


RTW 2020 Prompts

by LikeASwitchInHeat



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, Rhink Three Ways, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-04-25 02:07:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 49,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22257577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeASwitchInHeat/pseuds/LikeASwitchInHeat
Summary: All of thesmuttytakes on the prompts from the Rhink Three Ways blog on Tumblr (@rhinkthreeways) as written by Laika (@likeaswitchinheat).The chapter title reflects that week’s prompt.Chapter-specific tags will be listed in the Notes 🖤
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 79
Kudos: 183
Collections: Rhink Three Ways





	1. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** blow jobs

Link knew he had the wrong shirt the second he pulled it over his head. It had been a cute bit, showing up at the Myth Ent New Year’s party in matching Mythical sweats, but this mix up was destined to happen. 

He looked all over for Rhett, hoping to exchange shirts before parting ways for the night, or morning; whatever it was now the New Year had rung itself in. 

“There you are!” Link called out before joining Rhett on the roof deck. 

Rhett held up a piece of paper, and confessed, “I read it. I’m sorry. I know this was private, but I couldn’t help myself.”

Link recognized his handwritten New Year’s resolutions that he’d shoved into the front pocket of his hoodie earlier. 

“It’s okay. They’re not personal. Just family stuff: Keeping in better touch with my mom. Being a better support for Lewis. Stuff like that. Nothing embarrassing.”

“All very... altruistic.”

Link shrugged.

“You’re a good man, Link.”

Link’s heart beat faster.

“Anybody takin’ care of _you_?”

“What d’you...?”

“You know what I mean,” Rhett said gruffly, stepping in closer. It was near complete darkness on the roof, but had there been any light on that cloudy night, there wouldn’t have been room enough between them for it to pass through.

“I wanna _do things_ for you,” Rhett said in a low, husky voice that Link wasn’t familiar with, but desperately wanted to be. 

“Pity sex?” Link snarked. “Like that’s a real good look on me...”

Rhett guided Link’s palm to the front of his sweatpants. 

“Does this feel like pity to you?”

Link inhaled sharply, already realizing there’d never be enough air between them again. Even if they took this breath, he’d always be starving for another. _But that doesn’t mean you just stop breathing_. Rhett was offering to affix his oxygen mask over his face for him, and help him take the deepest breath he’d had in… well, a while. How could he say no to that?

He couldn’t.

Link grabbed the front of Rhett’s hoodie, yanking him down for a kiss. 

Rhett nibbled and murmured against Link’s lips. “I just want you to feel good. Can I do that for you?”

“This ain’t gonna hurt us?”

“You’re not gonna hurt me. Physically, emotionally, you don’t have to worry. This is about _you_. You don’t have to think at all. I want you to satisfy your most… _primal _urges. Stuff you’re too freakin’ careful and considerate to act on with anyone else. All that raw, sexual energy trapped inside this hot little body… For once, just--”

“Knees.”

“What?”

Link didn’t raise his voice. He spoke clearly and evenly. “On your knees, Rhett.”

Rhett briefly looked around. Whether he was convinced of their privacy or just _into it_ regardless, he did as Link said.

Link lowered his joggers, his erect cock offering itself to Rhett. 

Rhett’s lips curled into a wry grin. “No underwear, huh?”

“Feels good that way. ‘Course, not as good as it’s gonna feel in your mouth.”

Rhett paused, subtly licking his lips. Link might have thought Rhett was having second thoughts if not for how he was palming himself through his pants. 

“Suck it.”

Again, Rhett did as he was told. And it felt… _incredible_. No one had done this for Link in a long time. Embarrassingly long, if he was honest. And Rhett was really going for it, drool already spilling over his lips and soaking his beard. 

Link was convinced, this wasn’t pity. No one was _this _polite. The realization gave Link the boldness to do exactly what Rhett had wanted: Let loose. Go wild on him. 

Just then Rhett gagged, and Link felt his throat seize up around him for a second before releasing and easing off. Link pulled way back, eyes wide with concern. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself be so careless as to—

“Hey!” Rhett scolded from his subservient vantage. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… y’know?”

“I’m not mad that you choked me with your big dick,” Rhett explained, stroking Link’s saliva-slicked shaft with his strong hand. “I’m mad that you stopped yourself. I don’t want you bein’ gentle with me, Link. I’m a big man. I can take it.”

Link’s heart was now in his throat with the desire to fuck Rhett’s face. He stroked Rhett’s cheek with a caress that was too kind for what he was about to do next. His thumb dragged through the spit-matted hairs on Rhett’s chin. He moved his hand to the hair on top of Rhett’s head; and after that, there was nothing gentle about his touch. He buried his fist into thick auburn curls and yanked Rhett forward, feeling him choke on his length again. 

“Fuck,” Link whimpered, loving the feel. Tight and soft. Hot and wet. “Mmmmm, Rhett.”

Rhett moaned back, the humming set Link’s thighs trembling. 

“Oh goodness…” Link sighed, pulling himself out entirely, eyes fixed on the stringy connections of spit and pre-come that hung from the head of his cock to Rhett’s swollen, eager lips.

“Don’t stop,” Rhett whimpered, his voice hoarse from how Link had used him. 

“Shh…” Link pressed the head of his cock to Rhett’s mouth, teasing himself by rubbing the sensitive skin against Rhett’s silky soft lips. Link’s whole body shivered. He bucked his hips, sloppily thrusting himself into Rhett’s mouth a few more times before growling Rhett’s name, and emptying his load into his come-hungry mouth.

Rhett held his mouth open, letting it dribble over his lips.

“Such a pretty mess,” Link sighed, looking a little cross-eyed and hazy.

Rhett made sure their eyes were locked as he swallowed, and he cleared his throat before speaking again. 

“I’ve never seen you like this, Link. It’s beautiful. I want… I want more. Not just my face. Want you to fuck my—“

“Hush,” Link soothed, softly petting Rhett’s mussed hair. “I can’t go achievin’ _all _my resolutions within the first hour of the New Year.”


	2. “Stay here tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** restraints, light d/s, rimming, anal sex

“Stop squirming, Rhett.”

Link’s voice tickled the inside of Rhett’s ear, and there was nothing Rhett could do to swat him away or scratch the itch. 

Rhett tilted his head to rub his ear against his own bare freckled shoulder to sooth the sensation. 

He felt Link tighten the restraints around his wrists. 

“Too tight?”

Rhett shook his head. 

“Use your words, baby. I need to know you’re okay.”

“I feel fine, Link,” Rhett insisted, impatience creeping into his voice. “I just…” He writhed against the sheets, and stretched out his legs, which remained unbound. “I wish I could touch you.”

“Like this?” Link asked. He trailed a finger lightly down the front of his own body, taking pit stops at all of Rhett’s favorite locations: his clavicle, his nipple, his bellybutton. 

Rhett whimpered. 

“Or like this?” Link wrapped a hand around his cock, delicately stroking his length, teasing them both. 

“Link, please! Lemme—”

“No, baby.” Link made chastising tsk tsk sounds. “You lost our little game, and now I’m gonna have to ask you to stay here tonight, and be a good boy for me, Rhett.”

“Are you… are you gonna—?”

“Fuck you? I’m hoping to. But only if you behave. There’s nothing worse than when a kid acts up, and you have to punish them by not taking them to the amusement park that you were both looking forward to.”

Rhett couldn’t help but smile. “I’m not a kid. I know how to act.”

“Well, then,” Link winked. We’re goin’ to Disneyland!”

Link reached for the lube, and straddled Rhett’s broad chest. He slicked himself up right in front of Rhett’s face; his arms restrained, his mouth just out of mouth’s reach. Rhett’s small whines, and futile attempts to reach his tongue or lips to the tip of Link’s dick made Link even harder. 

“Don’t strain your neck, honey. You’ll get your fill of me.”

Link slid his way down Rhett’s long body, took Rhett’s legs in his hands and began to fold them back toward Rhett’s shoulders. 

“You’ve been doing your stretches?”

Rhett nodded, quickly adding verbal affirmations. “Yeah, I have. And I will tell you if anything hurts.”

Link grinned broadly from between Rhett’s knees. “You really are a good boy, aren’t you?”

“I wanna be.” The frustration in Rhett’s tone was turning to desperation. He stayed still. He didn’t pull on his restraints. He exhaled and relaxed his body, letting gravity do the work of resting his legs back beside his ears. 

Rhett’s breath hitched and his mouth fell open in a silent, thankful prayer when he felt Link’s tongue touch his rim. 

Link was slow and controlled; methodical as he stimulated the sensitive skin around Rhett’s entrance. Rhett could hear the small growls and moans of appreciation Link made as he flicked and glided his tongue over him. 

Rhett felt himself twitch and clench in response to Link’s delicate touches. His cock wept against his belly. His eyes rolled back into his head as Link slowly pushed a finger inside his wet hole. He groaned, wordlessly begging for Link’s cock. 

Link tongued at the places where his finger merged with Rhett’s body. He then slid his finger free from Rhett’s tight heat, and spread Rhett’s cheeks apart. 

“Oh yes, Rhett. Look at that… You really are beautiful like this.”

Rhett’s face warmed with pink blush, and he flinched when he felt a cool drizzle of lube land on his upturned ass cheeks. He held his breath, waiting to feel the thick pressure of Link’s dick pushing inside him. He wanted it so badly he could cry.

Link didn’t keep him waiting, and Rhett grit his teeth and whined, forcing an exhale through his nose as he felt Link slowly stretching him and filling him from above. 

“Doing okay, babe?” 

“I’d be doing a lot better... if you’d hurry up an fuck me.”

“Yeah? You wanna get fucked, Rhett?”

If Rhett hadn’t been restrained he’d have liked nothing better than to grab Link by his tiny hips and pin him to the bed; ride his cock like a toy, threaten to break his dick off before coming hard and painting his chest in pearly white… 

But as it was, he was at Link’s mercy tonight. 

“Fuck me, Link. Please? I need you. I need to—”

“Easy, honey,” Link soothed, buried deep inside him, petting Rhett’s legs and cooing at him like an unbroken horse. “I got you.” 

Link began to rock his hips. Working the angles just right, sending Rhett’s already leaking cock twitching and spurting thin stripes of come.

“Nnnngh.. Fuck, Link! Oh! Gosh… I…”

Link pulled out, and laid Rhett’s legs down onto the bed, leaving himself kneeling between them. 

Rhett’s chest heaved to fill his lungs to capacity now that he was unfolded, and his heart continued to race - his eyes fixed on Link, whose fierce blue eyes were staring at the mess on Rhett’s belly. Link jerked himself off frantically, his own desperation to add to the mess finally taking over. 

Link’s body convulsed with a grateful sound, somewhere between a grunt and a sigh as he shot his warm load onto Rhett’s stomach, and collapsed onto the bed beside him with a spent, sleepy grin on his face. 

“That good for you, baby?”

“Always,” Rhett assured him. “Why do you think I let you win?”

“You let me what?”

“You heard me. Now unite me, Neal. Or scratch my left ear for me.”

“I should leave you and your itchy ear to suffer.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Link reached up to release Rhett’s arms, and Rhett automatically wrapped them around Link.

“You’re right, I likely wouldn’t.”

Rhett smiled into Link’s sweat dampened hair. “Though if you did, you’d probably find a hell of a way to make it up to me.”


	3. Wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** nipple play, teasing, begging, rimming, anal fingering

Rhett hadn’t even wanted to run, but Link was struggling for motivation training for his second Spartan, and Rhett wanted to be supportive. Even if it meant dragging their butts to the river trail at the buttcrack of dawn. 

They hadn’t made it far before the weather turned on them. 

“Just a couple more miles, Link! We can outrun this thing!” Rhett shouted, struggling to be heard above the wind blowing against them, making it feel like running through quicksand, or slow motion in a dream. 

“This is ridiculous!” Link panted. “Let’s wait for it to pass!”

They took shelter under the awning of a riverside rec center that hadn’t opened for the day, just as the skies opened and rain came down in pellets with such force they could feel the splashback from under their refuge. 

Rhett knew it was futile, but he pulled on the front doors - locked, as predicted. He moved to the bathroom doors, which… fortunately for them, security had overlooked. 

Rhett grabbed Link’s hand and pulled him inside. He’d been to this center before and knew the bathrooms led to locker rooms, and then the basketball court. He showed Link to the locker room where there were benches to rest on while they waited. 

“How long you reckon it’s gonna last?” Link asked. 

Rhett looked at him, a determined glint in his eyes.

“Long enough to get you off.”

Before Link could react Rhett was reclining him, pressing his back to the bench. 

Rhett kissed down Link’s chest. Link was sleek, strong, and hard in places; unexpectedly and delightfully soft in others. Rhett could have spent ages exploring his body like the surface of some exotic (and incredibly hot) planet, they didn’t have the time. 

He licked over one of Link’s nipples, and Link flinched. Rhett could feel Link’s nipple harden under his tongue. He closed his lips around the tight pink nub and sucked wetly, flicking his tongue over it. 

Link whined.

Rhett sucked harder, his hand on Link’s other nipple, rubbing his thumb gently over it. Link shuddered and arched; his fingers finding Rhett’s hair and threading through the thick waves. 

Rhett removed his mouth, blowing a cool stream of breath over the oversensitized bud, making Link shiver and moan. When he resumed circling the nipple lightly with his finger, Link groaned and his head thudded back onto the bench. 

Rhett licked and nibbled down Link’s stomach, stroking a finger nonchalantly over the wet patch tenting the front of Link’s shorts. 

“Hmmm. What  _ am _ I going to do with you…?” Rhett teased.

Link’s tense jaw uttered, “Fuck me?”

At this rate, the morning employees would arrive before he could slip a finger inside, let alone fuck him. But Rhett was a man of his word, and determined to make him come.

Rhett slid Link’s shorts down and wrapped his lips around Link’s swollen cock. He got his nose almost to the base without choking, his eyes watering noticeably.

Link made small sounds, sweet and pliant. He settled his hands over Rhett’s shoulders, one of his legs curling around Rhett’s back, pulling him closer. 

When Rhett pulled off, Link grumbled at the loss, then froze when Rhett kissed his inner thigh. His cock twitched as Rhett stroked it, helplessly responding to the rub and twist of Rhett’s touch. A drop of precum rolled over Rhett’s knuckles. Rhett made sure Link watched him lick it off.

Link trembled, desperate and on the verge of orgasm when Rhett lifted Link’s hips and licked his hole. He spread Link and licked firmer, and more deeply. Link thrashed under him, but wasn’t pushing Rhett away. Rhett worked him open, forcing his tongue inside and wrapped a hand around Link’s cock, enveloping the head in his palm and stroking the slick tip in rhythm with his tongue’s slippery penetration.

Link’s control crumbled, high-pitched moans, gasps, and half-sobs falling from his mouth as he squirmed and quivered. Rhett added a finger alongside his tongue.

Rhett released Link’s cock and Link groaned, reaching down to touch himself. Rhett smacked his hand away, and Link flopped back bonelessly and shuddered. 

Rhett sank two fingers into Link, and Link’s hips bucked as he chanted in a low hiss, again and again, “Rhett, Rhett...” Something between a threat and an endearment. Link braced his shoes against the tile floor on either side of the bench so he could bear down on Rhett’s fingers, his hole tight and greedy around them, spasming when Rhett crooked them just behind his cock.

Link made a broken sound, trembling as Rhett twisted his fingers again, unrelenting. Link arched his back, trying to drive them deeper.

Link bit his lip hard. “I –”

Rhett stretched his fingers apart and licked at the hot space between them.

Rhett groaned as Link continued to babble, and stutter the hottest sounds he'd ever heard.

“C’mon...” Link whimpered.

Rhett didn’t move any faster, maintaining a sensual, steady pace, and Link found a rhythm with him, hitching his hips back onto Rhett’s hand, abs bunching up with the rise and fall of his back, skin shining with sweat, matting his hair against his brow. Either he was too drained or it just felt good, because Link seemed content with the pace of the steady rocking of Rhett’s wrist, in and out, soft noises catching in his throat with every careful push.

Rhett bobbed his head, stroking Link’s cock with his tongue and lips, eyes fluttering with his efforts. Link’s throat opened into a sweet groan that made Rhett’s heart soar. Link tightened around his fingers with every pulse of come against Rhett’s chest. 

When Link softened and stilled, he whimpered an echo of pleasure and Rhett came at the sound, having been tugging at his own cock as he pleasured Link. Giving his spent cock a couple of squeezes before shuddering and collapsing onto Link’s sticky body.

“Think the storm has calmed at all?” Rhett asked. 

“Hmm.” Link hummed dreamily. “For now.”


	4. “Excuse me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** workplace antics, teasing, light exhibitionism, anal sex

Rhett had started it. 

With gentle touches. 

He reached across the desk. Again when he missed his mark. “Pardon my reach,” he said as his arm dragged lightly across Link’s nipple beneath his shirt. 

“Look out,” he announced in the break room, extending his arm over Link’s head to touch the handle of the cupboards over the sink. 

“What the...? I could move, y’know.”

“Nah, man. You’re good.” Rhett balanced himself against Link’s back, stretching to retrieve the bag of tea. Thumb of his steadying hand rubbing softly over the nape of Link’s neck. The hairs stood up on Link’s neck as he shuddered at the touch before jumping clear out of the way.

“All good!” Rhett assured him, ignoring Link’s pink cheeks and heaving shoulders. “I got what I needed.” Rhett shook the tea bag, and exited the room. 

As they were leaving for the day, Rhett crossed the room in front of Link, brushing his backside across the front of Link’s jeans as he passed.

Link’s breath hitched and he stumbled back, nearly knocking himself into his desk.

“Excuse me,” Rhett uttered, still feigning innocence. 

“ _ Excuse _ you? Rhett. I’m starting to think there is no excuse for you today.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Is there… somethin’ that you want from me? You’ve tried using your little touches to rile me up. And now you’re using those pretty eyes. You should try workin’ that filthy mouth, and tell me what you want me to do to you.”

“Here?” Rhett asked. Suddenly feeling less bold than he had a moment ago. 

“Well, normally I wouldn’t suggest it. We had set a clear boundary about this sort of thing. But it seems you have other ideas. Don’t you, Rhett?”

Sweat beaded at Rhett’s temples. 

“Should I.. uh.. lock the door? 

“I much prefer an open door policy. Why don’t you watch the door for us, Rhett?” 

Link shoved Rhett up against the door, left just barely cracked open, without actually shoving him  _ into _ it. A casual watcher of GMM would never guess that Link had the restraint.

“Don’t move,” Link breathed into his ear, and Rhett’s entire being stiffened. 

Rhett’s breath came in quick exhales as Link slid down his pants and underwear, and removed them from one ankle before nudging his legs apart with his shoe. 

“Is this what you wanted, Rhett? So needy for my attention all day long.”

Having lowered Rhett down to his height, Link pulled Rhett’s exposed hips back toward his clothed crotch. The vulnerability of being stripped half bare while Link remained fully clothed made the moment even more erotic for Rhett. As did the door being cracked open, and his arms extended out on either side of the doorframe, trembling with the effort of not collapsing onto the door and slamming it shut. 

Link held his fingertips to Rhett’s mouth and subtly encouraged him to make them nice and wet for him. Rhett had been dying all day long to get  _ any _ part of Link near his mouth, and he suspected he was doing himself a favor besides. 

Link lovingly kneaded the flesh of Rhett’s backside before slowly easing a finger inside, causing Rhett to inhale sharply and then exhale with a slow broken grunt. 

“Hush now, honey. Unless you wanna be heard? That why you’re tryna wind me up in public? On camera? In front of our employees?” 

Rhett didn’t know what the right answer to that question was, so he stayed quiet. And focused on keeping his arms strong. 

Link’s breath was hot in his ear, “You like my fingers, Rhett?”

He did. 

They were moved juuust right, with strong, fluid motions, knowing exactly how to touch him. He grit his teeth and nodded, biting back a whimper. 

“Would you rather have my cock?”

“God, yes,” Rhett’s whisper was low and rough. 

“You have to be quiet, baby.”

“I am.”

“Sure you are,” Link gave him a light slap on his bare ass. “For now…”

He heard the unbuckling of Link’s belt, and telltale sound of a zipper being lowered. 

Rhett stifled a grunting sound in his throat as he felt Link slowly stretching and filling him. 

And Rhett wasn’t the only one having difficulty keeping quiet. Link was beginning to struggle. He was a talker in bed. Like his brain would shut down, and let his mouth off it’s leash. But they both knew they were playing with fire here: at work, unlocked door…

Rhett tried not to think about that now, now that Link was moving inside him. His lips buried against Rhett’s back to keep silent. 

Rhett muttered a thousand silent prayers to any god that was listen to such obscene offerings. Loving the abrasive feel of denim rubbing against the back of his thighs. 

Link’s hand snaked itself around Rhett’s hip and wrapped around his cock. The grunts and groans that Rhett had been keeping contained were desperate to become outright hollering. 

But he was good. 

He kept quiet. 

When he finally released into Link’s skilled grip, he silently exhaled the breath that he’d been holding hostage, as it absolutely could not be trusted to be quiet until he’d come. 

Link fucked him gently through his orgasm, and wasn’t far behind him. Rhett could feel Link’s lips pressing kisses onto his back as he grew soft inside him. 

Rhett carefully nudged the door shut with his forehead, so he could finally collapse into it without slamming it. He sighed and felt the tension leave his arms. All the air leave his lungs. He felt dizzy, giddy, and so fucking grateful. 

“How do you always seem to know what I need?” He asked, watching as Link wiped down and tucked himself back into his pants. 

“You ain’t exactly subtle!” Link teased. “But I’m happy that you’re happy. Though we really can’t be doing this at work anymore.”

“I know,” Rhett agreed. 

It wasn’t the first time they’d broken this rule. 

It wouldn’t be the last. 


	5. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** snowed in, coffee shop AU, employee-boss relationship, Rhett’s the boss, Link is just bossy, anal sex

Link’s teeth chattered as he pushed against the blustery winds to shut the door. 

“Doctors and nurses report to work in this weather. Not baristas!”

Rhett chuckled as he made a fresh cup of coffee. “It's a heck of a lot worse than when I first got in. I probably should close up.”

Link’s jaw went slack in disbelief. “I’m not sure if that makes me happy, or furious at this point. I’m already freakin here!”

“I’ll pay you for the full day,” Rhett assured him. “Why don’t you at least warm up a bit before heading back out into that mess?” He extended the fresh mug he’d just prepared in Link’s direction. 

The sound Link made when fingers wrapped around the steaming mug was borderline obscene - between a groan and a sigh. 

Rhett had to turn his back to prevent Link seeing how this small satisfaction made him blush. It wasn’t why he’d hired him, but the immediate chemistry once they started working together was undeniable. 

“You just gonna loiter around the shop on your snow day?” Link asked between sips. 

Rhett shrugged. “There’s worse places to pass the time. Sometimes I forget I opened this place because I actually like hangin’ out in coffee shops. When I’m not working.”

“And I like hangin’ out with you. When I’m not working.”

“Yeah?” Rhett raises a skeptical eyebrow. 

“If I didn’t, I woulda bolted the second I wasn’t occupationally required to be here!”

Link shrugged out of his winter coat and joined Rhett behind the counter and pulled him down by his apron for a kiss. 

“I believe you offered to warm me up?” 

Rhett removed Link’s winter hat to free the messy mop of hair beneath it. 

“I’m gonna feel weird payin’ you for this time.”

“I’m worth every penny,” Link quipped. “Besides, you don’t pay that well. I’ll gladly take an unpaid vacation day for this.”

Rhett rolled his eyes, but didn’t stop kissing Link or taking off layers of clothing. 

Rhett’s eyes drifted to the floor length window front. 

“We keep this up, the windows will fog up. But it’s still more discreet if we go back to the office. Plus, there’s uh… lotion on my desk.”

Rhett didn’t have to ask twice. 

They stumbled into the office and Rhett used a long arm to clear his desk before roughly setting Link onto it. Rhett was breathless and panting with need. “How d’you wanna…?”

“You may be the boss, and I do want you to fuck me, but I want you to do it how I want it.”

Rhett nodded dumbly. 

Link’s legs spread wide and Rhett stood tall between them. Link’s hand wrapped around Rhett’s cock, pumping him with a lotion covered hand. “Gonna feel so good…” Link purred as he stroked him. “Fuck me, Rhett?”

Link’s body was more than warmed up by now. Rhett was pressed hotly against it, feeling his heart jackhammering behind his ribs. His hands latched onto Link’s waist dragging him to the edge of the desk, pressing his way in until Link’s body heat swallowed him. 

Link reached around Rhett’s shoulders, raking his fingernails down his shoulder blades, red lines rising up in their wake as he moaned and threw his head back - rolling his hips to rock down onto Rhett over and over. 

Link’s gaze was intense as he locked eyes with Rhett. “Don’t even think about it, big man,” Link panted. “I’m not done with you.” 

Link eased himself off of Rhett’s cock and flipped them around to pin Rhett onto the desk. He straddled him, and sank down to ride. He pressed his palms over Rhett’s broad chest and Rhett could only pray to not come before Link was satisfied. 

Rhett’s hand came slapping down to rest on Link’s ass as he bounced on his dick. 

“Yesssss!” Link groaned. “Spank me! Make it sting,” he hissed. 

Rhett cracked his skin as Link grinded his hips beneath his palm. He hoped it would leave a print. Link cried out with pleasure as his dick twitched against his belly. 

“C’mon… Fuck me, Rhett. Fuck me like you mean it.”

Rhett needed every ounce of restraint to not blow his load right there. 

“Now!” Link half whined, half shouted. 

Like a man possessed, Rhett grabbed Link by the hips and lifted him up off him, bending him over the desk with such force that Link would have bruises the next day. 

“You wanna scream, Neal? I’ll make ya scream for me…” He lined himself up with Link’s hole - fucked, used, wanting more. 

Rhett slammed back in without preamble.

Link cried out a series of swears and unintelligible mumbles, his fingers scrambling on the desk looking for something to hold onto. 

“Don’t stop!” Link struggled to push back against Rhett’s thrusts, working a hand around his own cock. “I’m so fuckin close,” Link drooled. “M-make me come!”

Rhett snapped his hips faster and more deeply. “Mm, yeah. Come for me, Link.” Rhett folded himself completely over Link’s sweaty body and laid into him with all he had. He hoped they’d do this again, but if not - he wanted to give Link a hell of a memory.

“Oh god, Rhett. Oh shit. Oh fffff…”

Rhett grit his teeth and held on a little longer as Link whined and moaned beneath him. 

How many times had he fantasized about this? Hoping his apron covered the tenting in his pants? 

Finally, Link came hard into his own hand. 

Rhett immediately pulled out and painted Link’s back pearly white. Cock completely spent. Brain completely fried. 

They sank to the floor, loosely holding each other as their chests heaved and they tried to catch their breath. 

“Holy shit…”

“Yeah,” Link agreed. “That felt a little… overdue?”

“Felt pretty good to me!”

“Well, yeah! Just. Now that’s outta the way. You wanna grab the proverbial cup of coffee sometime? Well and truly off the clock?”

“Yeah,” Rhett said, grinning so hard his cheeks hurt. “I’d like that.”


	6. “Just breathe, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: anal sex, mirror sex, rough sex, impact play (referenced), choking, *emotional release*

Rhett’s cock hangs thick and twitching as his fingers pry Link open. He’s worked him over with a flogger until Link’s skin is warm and pink, and now Link is begging for him to sink into him and make his insides as raw as his outsides. Rhett has teased and stretched him with toys, working him open but leaving him needy, wanton, and whiny.

Link hovers on elbows and knees, and Rhett pushes his broad shoulders down to the bed, tilting Link’s sweaty face to rest on the pillows. His perfect ass in the air, positioned and presented beautifully for Rhett. 

“Look yourself, honey,” Rhett tells him, and Link’s eyes obediently flick to the oversized mirrored headboard. “Very good, Link. Now just breathe, okay?”

Link nods, bites down on his lip and his shoulders arch as he takes a shaky inhale that shifts to a high pitched moan as Rhett buries himself, pushing the air from Link’s lungs. 

Link’s mind has pretty much left his body, but it doesn’t stop his body from responding - lifting his hips and spreading his legs wider to grant Rhett more access. Rhett reaches the limit of Link’s depth and pauses to feel Link’s body spasming and drawing him in.

Rhett waits. Showing restraint. 

“Breathe out, baby.”

Link does. 

Only then does Rhett begin to work his hips in a gentle rhythm, gradually working up to a punishing pace. 

Pounding into him as Link bites into his own forearm to keep from crying out. (Or maybe just because he likes it.) He bites hard enough to leave bright scarlet marks on his arm. 

Rhett holds firmly to the sides of Link’s hips as he changes his pace, working different angles to elicit different sounds from the man beneath him. 

Rhett’s balls slap against Link’s thighs like a mantra, quieting his mind and focusing him where he feels most complete, where he feels best - on the basest of levels. His thighs burn with his efforts, thrusting his hips upward as he continues to hold Link down. He doesn’t have to hold him down, Link’s a good boy and knows how to stay. But Link likes it when Rhett uses his size against him. He can see it in the fucked look in his eyes in the mirror. He can hear it in each hoarse and desperate noise he pulls from Link’s center. And feel it in the way all of Link’s most vulnerable parts open up for him.

Rhett trusts Link to let him know when he goes too far. Too hard, too rough. So Rhett never has to think as he rolls his hips, pounding into Link with enough power to shake the nightstand and dresser. To make Link’s reflection shiver in the mirror as it vibrates with the force of his thrusts. 

“Wait…” Link whimpers, and Rhett does. 

They have safewords, but Rhett doesn’t need to hear them to let up. Unless Link tells him that’s what he wants ahead of time. Then he’s relentless until Link says “Red”. 

And Link has told him what he wants. And in light of his request, Rhett will not be limited to safewords. He’ll stop if Link says “no”, “wait”, or coughs in a way that makes Rhett uncomfortable.

“You ready?” 

“Please…?” Link whines in the way that he’s learned will make Rhett do anything he asks. 

Rhett knows exactly where to slide his fingers and groans audibly as they ghost over Link’s pronounced goozle as he moves into position and begins to squeeze. He closes his eyes and imagines feeling Link’s life pulsing in his fingertips. He forces Link’s hips down, driving them into the bed, blanketing Link with every excessive inch of himself. 

He watches Link’s reflection; jaw slack, subtle smile, teardrops beading at the tips of his long eyelashes. 

He’s gorgeous. 

Another needy whimper escapes Link’s lips, Rhett lifts up enough that he can slip his other hand underneath. Fingers teasing at Link’s swollen and leaking cock. He flickers the pads of his fingers over the sensitive skin at his tip, and Link’s hips are bucking; his entire body one big overstimulated tremor. 

“Stay still or you’re gonna make me bruise you, honey.”

Link grunts, and Rhett releases his hand from his throat. 

Link gasps and Rhett watches hungrily as Link’s back expands underneath him with the depth of his breaths. Shoulders heaving. 

Better able to brace himself with a free hand, he gets a proper grip on Link’s cock and begins pumping it. He fucks Link forward, thrusting him into his fist. 

Link doesn’t try to support his weight, completely given over to Rhett’s hold. His body spasms as he comes onto Rhett’s hand, his own stomach and sheets. Twitching. Moaning. Pulsing around Rhett’s cock as Rhett takes his final strokes before his rhythm breaks. With the final snap of his hips, he leaves himself to soften in Link’s warm body before easing out; keeping his hold on Link’s trembling body. 

“How do you feel, baby?”

“So happy…” 

“You’re crying.”

“It was a lot.”

Rhett takes inventory of the damages. Some welts from the flogging earlier; no broken skin. Some bruising around his hips; so far, none near his neck. 

“Yeah, it was…” Rhett agreed. The crashing endorphins threaten to escape as tears with him, too. He twists his hands into Link’s sweaty mess of hair and kisses his neck, licking at trails of sweat, feeling Link hum low in his chest. 

Link had wanted Rhett to mark him up, break him apart; but Rhett’s favorite part was when Link was his to put back together. 

He softens his grip, brushing Link’s hair back and sighing. 

Their breathing slows, naturally synchronizing. All sweat and tears dried, the world’s stress and tension evaporating with it until it was just them. 

Just them. 

As it had always been, and always would be. 

Link’s sleepy eyes found Rhett’s. His smile was soft and satisfied. His lips were softer as they met Rhett’s to whisper,

“Thank you.”


	7. Valentine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** blindfolds, handcuffs, sex toys, anal sex.... oh. and Romance!

“Why you gotta be one of  _ those people _ ? Thinkin’ it’s so cool to be ‘counter culture’?” Link whined. “To not enjoy popular movies or music, or participate in holiday traditions?”

“It’s not a  _ real _ holiday! Listen. I love you. But we don’t gotta put pressure on some random-ass day that Hallmark decided they could make money havin’ stores littered with pink and red cards, chocolates, and plushies with hearts!”

Link’s stomach tightened. What he wouldn’t give for Rhett to clandestinely visit a convenience store, so when Link woke up on Valentine’s Day, he’d come downstairs to a heart-shaped box of chocolates held by a stuffed bear, propping up a cheesy card in red envelope…

This year Link decided to take matters into his own hands, and finally put Valentine’s Day on the map for them. 

————

“Eyes shut,” Link instructed, positioning a blindfold over Rhett’s eyes. 

Link helped seat him at a small dinner table. 

“I smell chicken,” Rhett announced. 

“There’s a card here, too. Obviously, you won’t be able to read it. Allow me:

_ The holiday’s origin is not widely agreed upon, it is recognized as a day for love, devotion and romance. St Valentine is represented in pictures with birds and roses and his feast day is celebrated on February 14.” _

“Birds. Chicken. I get it. Are there roses on the table?”

“Take a sip of this.” Link held a glass to Rhett’s mouth, watching his lips search for the rim. 

“I can smell the whiskey! Good granny...”

Rhett took a sip. 

“Rosewater?”

“It’s a Rosewater Old Fashioned!”

“Wow, Link. Wait. You don’t like rosewater. Are you drinkin’ one of these?”

“It’s not the worst thing I’ve swallowed out of love for you.”

Rhett snorted.

Link silenced fed him a bite of chicken. 

“I know you think card companies ‘invented’ Valentine’s Day, but I wanna talk at you about the other origin stories and traditions.”

Rhett blindly shrugged and nodded. 

“One story says at one point, St Valentine was living on house arrest with a judge. He’d been caught performing illegal marriages, and being held prisoner.”

On cue with his articulation of the word ‘prisoner’, Link handcuffed Rhett’s wrists to the chair. 

“The judge put Valentine’s faith in love to the test: said if he restored his blind daughter’s sight, he’d release Valentine and all the lawless lovers that’d been incarcerated.”

Link placed his hands over Rhett’s blindfold, applying gentle pressure over his eyes before muttering contrived magic words and lifting the blindfold. 

“You’re cured!”

“But still locked up?” Rhett wiggled his wrists. 

“Yeah, you’ve still got to do a little more time.”

Link brought some gifts out from under the table. 

“I had to unblindfold you, so you can watch me open my gifts.”

“You bought your _ self _ gifts?”

“Well, I’m not gettin’  _ you _ nothin’. You don’t  _ believe _ in Valentine’s Day.”

Rhett rolled his eyes. 

“This is a scrapbook of the places we’ve been on tour together over our career. Did you know that besides ‘courtly love’, St Valentine is the patron saint of travelers?”

“Cute.”

“And a lot of other random stuff: bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, plague, young people…”

“What  _ have _ you been reading?”

“...and of course,  _ lovers _ .” Link opened another package and slowly revealed a wooden dildo. Artificially colored deep red, with a smooth surface of layered oil and varnish - while not obscuring the wood grain structure. 

“You like wood, don’t you, Rhett?”

Rhett’s only response was sitting up straighter, visibly trying to maintain his composure. 

“Too bad you're not a Valentine's Day kinda guy… I guess I’ll have to take this gift and—“ Link stood up, pushed the table from between them, and shimmied out of his pants. “—give it to myself. Here,” he pushed the tip of the toy past Rhett’s willing lips, flushing nearly as deep a red as the stain on the wood. “Make this nice and wet for me.” 

Link added more lube before sitting on the edge of his seat, cupping himself to clear a view for Rhett - cuffed and unable to wipe the drool from his face, let alone touch himself. He made a show of sliding the tip past his tight muscles. Moving it slowly and moaning as if there were cameras present. 

Rhett was beyond hard as he watched Link swallow the dildo. He squirmed in his seat, thrust against the air, desperate for contact. 

“Your wood’s as festively reddish-pink as my toy… and a lot prettier. You wanna be my toy?”

“Toy. Valentine. I’ll be whatever you need, honey. Just bring that sweet ass over here!”

Link hummed and held his breath, easing the dildo out. Rhett’s cock twitched as Link slicked him up, and Link knew it’d be a short ride. 

That was okay; the night was young. 

He straddled Rhett in the chair, sinking down onto his cock and began bouncing in his lap; loving the wet sounds of his cheeks slapping the tops of Rhett’s thighs. The only downside was having to stroke himself instead of feeling Rhett’s big strong hand wrapped around him. 

Still worth it...

Link was crying out and spasming around Rhett’s erupting dick in no time. 

————

Link went to the bedroom to clean himself up, and was met with an unexpected sight: a dollar store teddy bear, and a box of chocolates. On top of the heart-shaped box was a second, smaller box, of telltale size and shape. 

Link was near speechless as he called Rhett into the room. 

“Is this what I think it is?”

“You’re the Valentine’s expert. You must know he’s also the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages? I was gonna work the sweet, romantic angle. Though I enjoyed working your angles instead… I do hope you’ll say yes, so I can expect unexpected evenings like this the rest of our lives.”

Link threw his arms around Rhett and kissed a thousand yeses onto his lips. 

Valentine’s Day never again passed as an insignificant date on the calendar in their home. 


	8. “You have no idea how much I want you right now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: outdoor sex, first times

The heat had been building all day, and the skies were so thick with moisture, it felt inevitable they’d burst.

Rhett and Link cooled their sweltering bodies in the Cape Fear, as they had since they were kids.

Link was overheating from more than the weather as he watched Rhett’s form disappear beneath the surface of the river. He envied the water as it clung to every inch of him with less than surface tension between them. 

It was nearing sunset, and even the sun burying itself incrementally behind the canopy of trees did nothing for the humidity. 

Rhett and Link were in college now and didn’t have curfews. But the rain intruded upon their good time like parents telling them it was time to go home - with increasing insistence as it began pelting down, rippling the surface of the water like it was boiling. 

The whimsy continued to shift toward seriousness as thunder scolded them. They didn’t see lightning, but they didn’t need to wait around for it to make an appearance. 

They had entered and therefore exited the water in their undershorts; grabbing their rain-soaked clothes and bolting for the shelter of the forest. 

“We’ll be dry under here.” Rhett’s explanation was hardly necessary, but when had that ever stopped him? “The rain won’t be able to break through the cover of the leaves.”

Link couldn’t help himself bursting into laughter. 

“What’s so funny?”

“Dude! We’re drenched. Nearly nude! Holding our wet clothes, huddling under the trees for protection from what? We can’t get any wetter. It’s ridiculous!”

Rhett joined him doubling over in hysterics, and Link thought it was the best thing he’d ever heard. People told Link he was funny, but the only reason he bothered was to hear that sound… 

When Link paused to catch his breath, his eyes went wide as he caught more than air between his lips. 

“I’m sorry,” Rhett exhaled harshly, drawing his lips back.

“You should be. For stopping.”

Rhett kissed him again, with intention behind it beyond experimenting with if Link was gonna tell him he’d crossed a line.

He pulled Link by his rain-slicked shoulders into his arms and kissed him with the full force of his need. 

Link pulled Rhett down onto the blanket of leaves; the soundtrack of the rain against the treetops the only sound that penetrated their isolated bubble of existence. 

Link encouraged Rhett’s hands to be everywhere. Soon they’d peeled out of their wet underwear; nothing between them and the leaves. 

Rhett’s fingers probed lower, and Link’s breath hitched with excitement that Rhett mistook for hesitation.

Rhett withdrew his hand, but Link held it there.

“Link. If this is not what you want. I would never. Never. Try to make you.”

“Wow. People think  _ I’m _ clueless...” There was no mocking in Link’s voice as he stated honest facts: “You have no idea how much I want you right now. How much I’ve always wanted you. Wanted this.”

The sincerity of Link’s words melted into Rhett’s ears. And Rhett’s fingers melted into Link. Rhett tried to work his fingers smoothly inside of him, but the rainwater between them dissipated quickly with the heat of their friction.

Yet for Link, to be feeling Rhett inside of him at all was a dream come true on its own, and the endorphins going to his head left him with no inhibitions preventing him letting Rhett know he wanted more. 

“I… yeah, man. I want to. But… we don’t have anything to like. Lubricate things? I just. I want it to be good for you.”

“Please, Rhett,” Link whined.

Rhett was visibly flustered. “I want that more than anything. But I wanna do it right.”

“I need you, Rhett. I need to feel you inside me.”

“I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Maybe you’re giving yourself too much credit,” Link snarked. 

“Oh, you really are asking for me to rip you in half?”

“I’d like to see you try.” Link’s eyebrows bounced over his sparkling blue eyes. 

All teasing was gone as Rhett gathered as much spit and rainwater as he could, for all the good it would do, and slowly pressed the head of his cock past Link’s hole. 

“Tell me if I need to stop.”

Link shook his head, gritting his teeth but refusing to close his eyes. Link knew he wouldn’t get off like this, not today. Rhett probably wouldn’t either. But that wasn’t what they needed right now. For now, the stretch of his body as it made room for Rhett felt cathartic. They always found space for each other. This was just another manifestation of that tendency.

Rhett didn’t thrust. He gently rocked his hips, generating the slightest friction, trembling to keep his body upright over Link. 

Link always imagined that when this happened, it would feel like the rest of the world had fallen away, until there was nothing left but him and Rhett. But now that the moment had arrived, it felt different. This wasn’t exclusive; it was inclusive and universal. Link felt more ‘Good’, more perfect and one with all things, in ways he’d always prayed for but never found searching his soul or the walls of their childhood church where the answers were supposed to be written. 

Link felt Rhett carefully withdraw, and he immediately missed that feeling of completeness. He was distracted by the emptiness as Rhett’s warm mouth wrapped around his cock and made Link’s body shudder the mess of wet leaves and stones, and erupt onto his own belly. 

Link’s hazy vision focused on Rhett using the come he’d coaxed from Link’s spent cock to slick up his own and quickly jerk himself off before collapsing next to Link. 

“I don’t care how far we have to go,” Rhett told him. “We’ll make an excuse and we’ll drive until nobody’s ever heard of us. We’ll get a hotel and I’m gonna fuck you  _ thoroughly _ . Once we have the right… supplies, I’m gonna fuck you like you deserve.”


	9. Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: established relationship; reminiscing and roleplay; blow jobs anal sex

Rhett’s heart pounds with the same ferocity it did the first time he undressed for Link all those years, no - decades ago. In their dimly lit bedroom, he wonders if Link sees the blush he feels in his cheeks under Link’s appreciative gaze.

He walks forward to stand between Link’s legs as Link remains seated and shirtless. 

Link extends his arms to trace his fingers down the sides of his body.

Link’s voice is low and thick with lust. “I have a confession to make.”

Rhett hums. “Hm. That so?”

“I think I like you,” he begins their familiar dialogue. Finishing his line with a kiss on Rhett’s hip bone, and cupping his hands over Rhett’s ass. 

“Well, that's no secret. I like you, too, Link. You’re my best friend.”

“That’s not how I like you, and you know it.”

They’re in their early forties; their words are from their late teens. 

“Show me,” Rhett’s voice wavers with longing. Link’s face is so torturously close to his cock, and it weeps for the wet heat of Link’s mouth. 

Link rises from his chair, the rough denim of his jeans purposefully scraping over Rhett’s naked skin. 

He buries a hand into the thick curls at the back of Rhett’s head, pulling Rhett’s face and lips down to meet his own. The kiss is a thousand times smoother today than it was way back when...

“I’ve thought about doing that for so long,” Link husks. 

“Wish you told me sooner,” Rhett replies breathlessly, as he lies himself down onto their bed. “You know, you coulda told me.”

“Guess we both had our secrets…” 

Link finally unbuckles his belt, sliding his pants down. 

“And what’s your secret, Rhett?” Link massages Rhett’s thick thighs, and makes merciless eye contact with him. 

“I want your mouth on me,” Rhett groans, and Link kisses his lips. 

His neck. 

“Lower,” Rhett whines.

“That’s bolder than I recall,” Link says playfully.

“I’m older now, more anxious to get after what I want.”

“You’re the one that wanted to pretend. Wanted to ‘roleplay’.” 

“You teasin’ me now?”

“I love teasin’ you. But I’m not making fun of you. I want you to tell me stuff like this. What you’re into. What you wanna try...”

Rhett grips the sheets and tries not to pathetically rock his hips toward Link, silently begging for his attention.

“You’re gonna have to be patient with me,” Link says. “You know, I’ve never done this before.”

Rhett moans a bit as Link pulls him toward the edge of the bed and wraps a hand around him, stroking him slowly before taking him into his mouth.

“How’s it taste?” Rhett asks.

Link hums around him before pulling back to answer. “Tastes like you. Tastes incredible.”

“You were lying back then,” Rhett laughs lazily.

“You’re breaking character, man.”

“Well, so are you! You weren’t this good at suckin’ cock back then.”

“You want me to give you a crummy blowjob, so you can pretend we’re young and dumb again?”

Rhett chuckles, “No such a thing as a bad blowjob. That’s just ungrateful.”

“Well, I’ll be grateful if you don’t fuck me like we’re young and dumb again. I was gracious about it back then, because I was just so glad it was happening.”

Any smart-ass comment Rhett has in defense of his immature sexual efforts vanishes as he feels the velvety heat of Link’s mouth around him again. 

He releases his grip on their bedsheets and sets his hands softly on Link’s silky hair, feeling his head bobbing up and down as he strokes him with his skilled tongue. Rhett’s heart flutters and his thighs tremble as he feels the tip of his dick rub smoothly across the roof of Link’s mouth. 

Rhett slides his hands down to Link’s shoulders to pause him. 

“Whatssa matter? Ya close already?” Link grins slyly, knowing the answer to his staged question. 

“I was thinking to try something else, if you’d wanna.”

“You wanna try…?”

Rhett never understood how they ever felt bold enough to do a thing that they weren’t even comfortable speaking aloud. In hindsight, maybe they hadn’t been quite ready when they started. 

But it hadn’t stopped them then. 

And they hadn’t stopped since. 

Link climbs up onto the bed, positioning himself awkwardly onto all fours. “Like this?”

“I think I’d wanna see you… when it’s happening.”

Link rolls onto his back, opening his knees for Rhett with more confidence than he likely had the first time he’d spread his legs for Rhett. 

Rhett crawls in between them and kisses Link softly, with just as much reverence as he’d had the first time he’d perched up between Link’s legs. 

"You woulda told me if anyone ever touched you like this, right?" he asks.

Link nods solemnly. 

“You ever touch yourself like this?”

Link grins. 

“I knew it!”

They kiss again, and Rhett can feel the smile on Link’s face as they recall the awkward, cathartic confessions of their youth. Sharing their desires. Sharing their bodies. 

Rhett’s not acting when the sensation of pressing into Link sucks breath out of his lungs. 

They don’t simulate the uncoordinated, jerky movements of their youth. They move easily and intuitively. Each knowing what the other needs. 

Rhett senses the hitch in Link’s breaths, and the quiver in his hips and knows he’s close.

He whispers intimate words he’d never have dared utter into his lover’s ears back before he realized that’s what Link’s ears had been built to hear. He wraps his hand around Link’s cock and feels Link’s arms wrap around him, holding on for dear life as Rhett strokes him in time with his thrusts. Rocking him over the edge, then holding him until his shaking stops and his breath evens. 

“I never thought I could love anyone as much as I loved you then… after that moment…” Link sighs dreamily.

“That’s okay, darlin,” Rhett kisses Link’s sweaty forehead. “You just hadn’t met me from right now… until this moment.”


	10. “There’s only one bed”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: IKEA-related sabotage and sixty-nining

“While we generally reserve the answering of age old questions for our other channel, today we’re making an exception.” Rhett announced at the beginning of their two-man vlog.”

“That’s right,” Link chimed in. “Today, we’re putting our friendship to test assembling, not one, but two pieces of IKEA furniture together!”

It was Link’s idea to put a futon in his office. The man loved his naps. 

Rhett wasn’t much of a nap person, but he liked the idea of additional seating. And it added to the dorm room aesthetic that he was cultivating; longing for their college days as roommates. 

He’d even convinced Link to sleep over at the new house together, once they had their own beds. They could film themselves making midnight snacks and telling ghost stories. Use it as Society content maybe. 

Putting together Link’s futon was the winning combination of frustrating and triumphant. It made for good content with bickering, teasing, and ultimate collaborative efforts culminating in a finished product and celebratory high five that converted into a hug as easily as Link’s newly assembled futon would convert from sofa to bed. 

Putting Rhett’s together proved more challenging.

“I can’t freakin believe it…” Link muttered, searching for the missing screws. His patience slipping below the level he typically allowed for entertainment. “This is like one of those jokes about putting something together, getting to the end and not having all the pieces.”

They switched off the cameras, and Link sighed. “Guess we’re gonna have to scrap the sleepover idea.”

“Not necessarily…”

“But there’s only one bed.”

Rhett rolled his eyes. “I’ll build us a blanket barrier. Or we can sleep head-to-toe.”

“Even head-to-toe the same… middle parts line up!”

“You don’t trust your middle parts around mine?”

Link was pink and flustered and had nothing to say to that. 

“C’mon, brother. We already arranged to stay the night here. The vlogs, the house… we’re supposed to be trying to indulge in this renaissance of our friendship.”

“Yeah, all right. I was lookin’ forward to it, too.”

They filmed a couple of silly, typical-sleepover antics. But as it came time for bed, they put the cameras to bed for the night as well. 

“How do you wanna do this?” Link asked, eyebrows knit together. 

“Why you always gotta overthink everything, man? Just get in the bed.”

They shuffled trying to get their legs situated, and even out their shares of the blanket. 

_ He has his own dang blanket in his office _ , Link thought. But the thought stayed lodged in his head, and he never suggested it aloud. That decision settled warmly in his belly. 

“You comfortable enough?” Rhett asked. 

“It’s a little… warm.”

“You gonna be able to sleep like this? I can go sleep on the mattress in the other room.”

“No. I mean… I’m fine like this.”

“Yeah?” 

Link could feel Rhett’s breath hot against his lips now. He didn’t think he’d been that close a moment ago. When had they decided they should be facing each other?

“Yeah,” Link breathed back. 

Rhett’s hand settled onto Link’s elbow as he flinched. 

“Hey,” Rhett soothed. “Relax…”

“Relax into what, Rhett?” Link was aching to know if there was anything to these incidental touches. 

“Hm?”

“We need to be this close?”

“Do you wanna be this close?”

“No.” 

He’d enunciated clearly enough for Rhett to pull his limbs back toward his side of Link’s bed.

Link stopped him quickly. Bringing a hand to his face. “I wanna be closer.”

Rhett’s lips were immediately on his. Link’s hands were all over Rhett. They couldn’t get closer without physically occupying the same space; and it still wasn’t close enough. 

“Touch me, Rhett?” Link whined and Rhett’s hand obligingly snaked its way down the front of Link’s joggers. 

Link whimpered at the touch, clinging to Rhett as he brought lips to his ears to nibble and whisper, “Didn’t you say something about us going head-to-toe?”

“Seriously? You think you can, uh… multitask like that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I really would.”

Link threw the covers off, and reoriented himself to hug Rhett’s ears with his knees. Rhett had to scooch down so that Link was able to lean forward into position. Guiding his eager cock into Rhett’s warm mouth, feeling him moan around him as he folded himself forward to taste Rhett at the same time. 

The more Link used his tongue and lips on Rhett’s girth, the better Rhett felt as his lips vibrated and hummed around his own cock. Link’s thighs trembled as he held himself up. Trying to get a rhythm going between his shallow thrusts fucking into Rhett’s mouth and the stroking movements of his lips around Rhett’s easily weeping cock. 

Rhett’s hands drifted up to cup Link’s asscheeks. Link felt himself lean into the touch, pushing his butt back toward Rhett’s hold. Rhett’s fingers probed to find Link’s entrance and Link’s focus completely faltered. 

As predicted, he was not able to multitask in a coordinated manner to this degree. He had resorted to just whimpering around Rhett’s dick. And fucking himself between Rhett’s fingers and open mouth.

Link came quickly after that. Painting Rhett’s light covering of chest hair with his come. 

He then shambled on trembling limbs toward the foot of the bed. Making eye contact with Rhett as he took his cock into his mouth again. Blissfully satisfied and determined to make Rhett feel just as good. 

“Fuck, Link. You look so good like this.”

Link pulled off for long enough to tell him, “You taste even better.” 

Rhett’s orgasm came upon him suddenly, and into Link’s mouth. 

“You can get that down, but spit out mint-flavored freakin ice cream?”

“You complaining?”

“Hell no.”

———————

The next day as they prepared to leave their rental home, Link discovered a ziplock baggie of screws near Rhett’s backpack that had been conspicuously missing during their futon assembly attempt the day before. 

He’d never been so pleased to have been sabotaged.


	11. Lucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: strangers AU, hotel sex

There was an announcement for two passengers to give up their seats on their overbooked flight. Technically, Link had three days before returning to the office, he felt like he could be that person that racked up those bonus miles. And was put up in a hotel for a night. The timing couldn’t have been better. 

His luck didn’t stop there. The other passenger that had decided to take the deal had to share a taxi with him to their complementary hotel. He was tall and ruggedly handsome. And his legs were so long that their knees knocked in the backseat. 

When Link checked in, it seemed the hotel was close to fully booked as well. Mr Legs-for-Days checked in quickly and disappeared down the hall toward the elevators. 

Link’s check in took longer while they decided what to do with him, ultimately settling on upgrading him to the last available room, their honeymoon suite. 

It was the nicest room he’d ever seen. A far cry from the budget motels his company usually put him in. This room had a nicely stocked minibar, a gigantic bed with fluffy heart shaped pillows, and a jacuzzi. 

He decided to unwind with a shower, and he treated himself to pleasing thoughts of the tall stranger from the cab, and allowed his hands to wander and his mind to wonder what it might be like to be with a man that size. 

He was decidedly more relaxed after his shower and he helped himself to a cocktail from the minibar. He wasn’t a huge drinker and did have a plane to catch the next day. He knew he’d be better off getting some fresh air in the hotel's rooftop hot tub than continuing to drink in his own room’s hot tub. 

He couldn’t believe his good fortune when he saw that his fellow overflow passenger had had the same idea. 

“Hey there stranger!” The man called out to him. 

Link was happy that he remembered him, and a little embarrassed in light of the thoughts he’d been exploring since they’d last seen each other. 

To be now sliding into a hot tub with the object of his fantasies, it felt a little naughty. But he couldn’t just stand there half naked in the cool air. 

“I thought you might be shit out of luck, man. The guy at the desk said I got the last room.”

Link grinned. “Maybe the last regular room. You should see the room they got me in!”

The man, Rhett, he’d told him at some point in their chatting - Rhett smiled lazily and cocked an eyebrow. “Are you inviting me back to your hotel room?”

If you’re interested? To see the room, that is…” he added quickly. Still not sure what either of them were offering. 

“I’ve been interested since we shared the cab. When they told me I got the last room, I had this whole wild daydream where they had to stick you in my room. And you know there’s only one bed in there…”

Link deflected his embarrassment by leaning into it, and leaning into Rhett to kiss him. He began to rub himself into Rhett’s thigh through their shorts, before remembering this place was likely video surveillanced. 

“There’s a hot tub in my fancy room.”

They wasted no time retreating to the privacy of Link’s suite. Link made him a cocktail and put on some music as the jacuzzi filled. 

“You ever think about what people get up to in hotel beds and jacuzzis?” Link asked, unable to completely shed his germophobic traits; hoping he wasn’t killing the mood. 

“I’m thinkin about it in detail right now.”

They stripped down and their bodies slid into the hot tub. They’re mouths were locked into one another’s, their hands gliding easily over eager wet skin. 

“I’ve touched myself in the shower after meeting you,” Link confessed in the heat of his need. 

“That’s so fucking sexy, Link. What were you imagining?”

“How big you are.”

“You like big men?”

“I’ve never seen anyone as big as you,” Link wrapped a hand around Rhett’s cock. “I imagined you… inside me.”

“You want me to fuck you?” 

Link moaned affirmatively, sucking and biting at Rhett’s lips, loving the scratch and tickle of his beard as Rhett pulled Link into his lap. 

Link straddled Rhett’s thick thighs and lowered himself onto his cock. Whining and hissing with his head thrown back as Rhett slowly filled him. 

“Gosh, look how beautiful you are…” Rhett sighed, eyes fluttering as Link’s began to ride. 

Rhett soon lifted Link off of him and tossed him onto the bed. He crawled over him, holding Link’s chest down to the mattress, propping his ass up into the air. 

Rhett drilled him from above and behind. Driving Link’s body into the mattress, forcing all kinds of needy noises from Link - who hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed this. 

Rhett easily fucked and stroked Link to orgasm, even better than Link’s masturbatory fantasy had imagined. He flipped Link over onto his back and began to stroke himself over him. 

Link’s brain was mush. Scrambled. Come drunk and fucked stupid. The only thing he could think was how badly he wanted Rhett’s hot come all over his naked body. His mouth ran away without his brain as he begged Rhett, “Come on, papa. Bust for me! Caramelize me, daddy.” Link’s body writhed as his hands caressed his own chest and stomach, subconsciously indicating where he wanted to feel Rhett’s warm glaze. 

Link’s back arched and he moaned as he heard Rhett coming with groans and grateful sighs. Link massaged the mess on his skin. “Yes,” Link husked. “Look at that…”

Rhett collapsed down onto the bed next to Link, smiling through his affectionate confusion. “You are a strange, gorgeous… horny creature, Link Neal.”

They both laughed, lightheaded and giddy. 

Rhett added, softly kissing his forehead. “This had better not be the last time our paths cross.”


	12. “I can’t imagine this world without you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: public sex, bathroom sex

“Leaving so soon, big daddy?” 

Rhett cringed at the unfamiliar voice catcalling him on his way out of the bathroom. He never knew how to respond to stuff like that. He had to admit, he did appreciate the compliment. And being out at a club, he expected guys to be on the prowl; and that as the night wore on that prowling would become less tactful. 

He just kind of smirked and walked away without acknowledging the advance, stopping at the bar to grab drinks before meeting Link back on the dance floor. 

He tapped at the bar awkwardly as he waited for them less than patiently. He knew he was visibly uncomfortable, and was desperately hoping to avoid another interaction like the one at the bathrooms. He rolled his eyes as a new voice made the unoriginal observation that Rhett was “a tall drink of water”. 

Before he felt forced to either ignore or respond, he was wrapped in the protective and warm blanket of Link’s familiar voice saving him the trouble. It sent a wave of happiness and security coursing through his body as Link subtly came to his rescue: 

“While that may be true, if you look closely, I think you’ll see my name on this particular drink.”

Rhett smiled and outstretched his arm, welcoming Link to nuzzle closer to him at the bar. He held onto him like a buoy out at sea. 

His would-be pursuer excused himself from their situation, and Rhett was sure Link could feel his relieved exhale. 

“Whatever would you do out in this big bad world without me, Rhett? These guys would eat you alive.” 

Rhett kissed the wolffish grin from Link’s face. 

“You think I’d be brave enough to be OUT at all if I didn’t have you? I can’t imagine going through this without you, let alone attending pride events or going out to clubs. I mean, I have you as my partner and guide as I navigate this new world, and I still get overwhelmed. Without you…? I literally.” Rhett chewed the words over in his mind. They felt a little dramatic, but they also felt very accurate. “I can’t imagine this world without you.”

Link brought his hand up to Rhett’s face and led him downward for a kiss. 

“You know, I think I heard two people in the bathroom…” Rhett husked into Link’s ear conspiratorially. “Having sex!”

Link’s breath hitched theatrically as he pretended to be utterly scandalized by this observation. 

“Isn’t that… dirty?” Rhett was practically purring in Link’s ear now, and he could feel Link’s face smiling next to his cheek. 

“Very naughty,” Link nodded. “Why don’t you show me exactly where you heard these deviants?”

In no time at all, Rhett had Link pressed against the wall of a locked stall, pants peeled down to his knees. Rhett took Link’s cock as far down as he could without gagging. Link was trying to be quiet as he balled his long fingers into fists in Rhett’s wavy hair. But he never was very good at being quiet. 

Rhett pulled Link’s pants the rest of the way down, and lifted Link up high enough to hook his legs around Rhett’s hips. Link’s gorgeous mouth fell open in a silent scream or moan… without the sound it was hard to tell, but he was feeling something strong as Rhett sank into him. Using his large upper body to pin him securely to the wall, Rhett eased himself into Link, his breaths coming out in little huffs into the top of Link’s head, and he waited for some kind of sign from Link before he began to really get moving.

Link buried his face into Rhett’s shirt. Biting at the fabric, nipping at the skin, and unsuccessfully trying to keep his whimpers from being audible.

They thought they heard someone giggle, and their already flushed faces turned a deeper shade of red. 

Rhett shook his head. “Well. If they already know…” Rhett whispered. “We might as well let them hear?”

Link’s eyes lit up and he tightened his leggy grip around Rhett as he nodded.

Rhett thrust his hips and his belt, hanging loosely unbuckled from his unbuttoned pants, clanked against the stall. He didn’t let the sound stop him, and he set a rhythm of metal clinking on metal as he pounded into Link. Pressing obscene grunts and whines from him. 

A small crowd seemed to have gathered. Knocking on the wall, cheering them on. 

Rhett’s brain slipped to another level, and it was like a soundproof bubble had formed around their bodies. The outside noise was muted and muffled. The only thing he could sense was the feel of Link’s tight heat around his cock, and the squeeze of his thighs now up around his waist. Link’s upper body was growing slack, bouncing between the wall of the stall and Rhett’s chest. His eyes glossed over, and his mouth hanging open in a gorgeous moan. His hot panting breaths ghosted over Rhett’s collarbones. He began to feel Link’s body tighten, and Rhett didn’t relent… determined to drive him over the edge. 

“Come on, Link,” he grunted, doing all he could to keep himself from spilling over first. “Give the people what they want.” 

Reminding Link of his audience seemed to do the trick. Rhett quickly used one arm to lift their shirts up and out of the way as Link painted their bellies between them. 

Rhett eased out and settled Link onto his feet, keeping him supported with one arm as his knees were still trembling. He spun Link around to face the wall as Rhett gripped his perfect peach of an ass and finished jerking himself off onto it. 

As they wiped themselves clean and reassembled their clothes, Rhett wasn’t sure how they were gonna make their exit, but he had as much confidence in coming outta there as possible, knowing he could hold Link’s hand as he did.


	13. Adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: college rhink, first times

Once classes let out Friday afternoon, Rhett and Link set off on a great adventure. Their destination unknown to family and friends: they’d told their peers they’d be back home over the weekend; their families that they were staying on campus to study. 

There would be no one to wave for them as the shoreline of familiar territory faded away, and they nervously approached the foreign soil of a remote motel room, with their ultimate clandestine exploration destination being one another’s bodies. 

Neither could honestly say they felt fully ready for this, though both openly agreed they would regret it their whole lives if they didn’t take this journey together. 

At least once. 

Besides, who could ever say they were fully ready to answer the call of any of life’s great adventures?

They’d danced around the idea for years. Teasing, pretending. Joking about their affections. And how they’re attached at the hip and did everything together. 

It was finally time to stop playing in the shallows of intimacy and dive in.

For all the buildup that had brought them there, the destination felt anticlimactic. Though what should they have expected? They had paid for a cheap motel. They’d gotten a cheap motel. 

Eyeing each other up and down openly, free from prying eyes and ears, they remembered the room was not the destination. It was merely the vessel. 

They settled onto the bed. The comforter was stiff, the sheets scratchy, and the pillows flat. None of it mattered. 

Rhett took Link’s hand, and they locked eyes in silent acknowledgment. 

Uncharted territory. 

No one had prepared them for this. All the dog eared, mapped, and outlined metaphorical maps anyone that had pointed them in the direction of when it came to sex ed went out the window the moment they decided to seek their pleasure in one another. 

They were off the map, and out in the proverbial woods. Like the places had no names. And the key was written in a foreign language. 

But they had the whole weekend to find their way, and plant their flags. 

As Rhett’s hand touched Link’s, Link took it as a green light, and clung to Rhett for a kiss. Though he knew they were alone, he still got the rush of needing to hurry and hide. Like they could be discovered at any minute. But that adrenaline was replaced by a warm sense of calm security, the only subjects and objects of any discoveries tonight would be themselves. 

They lied down onto the springy bed and helped each other out of their clothes. This was the most openly they’d have ever looked upon one another’s naked bodies. Memorizing each landmark and aspect of topography. Not sure the next time they’d be able to visit, and unable to bring home souvenirs. The memories would have to suffice.

Link hooked a leg around Rhett’s hip, hugging them close. 

They gasped as their fronts rubbed together; Link’s eyes roll back, a small moan escaping his flushed lips. 

Rhett was drunk on the sound, convinced that was just the tip of the iceberg of noises he could draw from him. He slid down Link’s body to rest between his legs. 

Link whimpered as Rhett touched him. Rhett’s eyes drifted up to seek permission. Like they’d gone to all this trouble, and Rhett still was afraid Link would freak out that Rhett wanted him.

Link nodded his consent. “I want this.”

“I know…” Rhett said, unconvincingly. 

“All of it. Like we talked about.”

Rhett didn’t resist further, welcoming Link into his mouth. Feeling he might come just from how Link shivered at the feel of Rhett’s mouth on him. 

He eased into a bobbing rhythm, working Link’s length with his lips and tongue…. winding him up until his gears were about to pop. 

“Wait, Rhett..” Link whined. “If you keep doin that, I’m gonna—“

Rhett popped his head up, wiping the spit and precome from his chin. “What do you think I’m tryin to do here?”

“I thought we were gonna… you know?”

“We will. Eventually. But first I just wanna see you come.” He pumped Link’s saliva slicked cock. “We have all night if you want me to fuck you.”

“Don’t say it like that, man.”

“Sorry. I was just trying to… dirty talk?”

“Why’s it gotta be dirty?” Link chewed his lip. “I’m tired of feelin’ dirty.”

Rhett took a breath. “It’s not. It’s gonna be beautiful. And if you want it later tonight, I’ll give it to you. If not, there’s all day tomorrow. And all night. And all Sunday morning; we’ll be closer to heaven than any Sunday morning ever spent in church. And I’m gonna love you any and every way you want me to. Until you can’t move. Until you can’t hardly catch your breath. Or remember your name.”

“Rhett…” Link groaned, feeling firmer in Rhett’s hand. 

“Oh yes,  _ my name  _ you’ll remember. It’s the only word gonna be rollin’ off your pretty lips. But right now. I just wanna watch you crumble for me. I been dreaming of having the time and space to enjoy your body like this forever. And right now, this is all I want. For you to feel good. And for me to be the one makin’ you feel that way.”

Rhett dipped his head back down to lick and suck at Link’s warm, wet, dripping cock. Savoring every drop of precome, every full body shudder. Until finally Link’s hands dug into Rhett’s freckled shoulders, and he cried out in ways that only seedy motel rooms walls were meant to hear. 

Once he’d caught his breath, Link lamented, “I feel bad. I didn’t really do anything just now.”

Rhett sheepishly held up a sticky hand. “Seems whatever you weren’t doin’ really did it for me. Anything else you’re thinking of, I’ll let you make it up to me tomorrow.” 

Link pulled Rhett up face-level for a soft satisfied kiss. “You mean later tonight.”


	14. “All I wanted was for you to be happy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: poorly established relationship, references to past college!rhink, stressed Link, stress-reliever Rhett, blowjobs

Link had been on edge and snippy all day. Rhett had been doing his best to stay out of his way, and not provoke him further, but Link felt powerless to stop himself from being unfair to Rhett. It was if he subconsciously wanted to piss Rhett off and feel the fire of him lashing out at him. It would serve him right. It was what he deserved. 

It was only when Link rolled his eyes at him in the dressing room when they were changing outfits to shoot the next episode that Rhett seemed to have felt left with no choice but to call him out on being an asshole. 

“Okay. So now you’re pissed off that we’re wearing the same underwear?”

Link didn’t respond, just shook his head in an unnecessarily exasperated way. 

“It’s a shared sponsorship, man. And the pattern has bacon on them! It’s not so far-fetched that we’d wear them on the same day. It’s not like I planned it. Tell you what, tomorrow I’ll text you a picture of me in my undies, and then you can plan your day around that?”

“Can you just shut up, man? I’m not mad about the dang underwear, or at you at all. I’m just in a crappy mood, and you just gotta say stuff like THAT to provoke me.”

“What is it about me talking about photographing my underwear that provokes you, Link?”

Link’s skin began to turn a hue that would not exactly match his skin wall in their new home. 

“If it makes you feel better, I can take ‘em off right now?”

Link’s jaw fell open. Was Rhett really going to make it this easy for him?

“Or would you rather I take yours off? I wanna help you, but you gotta tell me what you need.”

Link couldn’t believe what Rhett was saying. He hadn’t offered this kind of stress relief since college. 

“That’s not what I—. You don’t have to…”

“I’ve seen you like this before, wound up so tight.”

“This ain’t like finals week, man. And we’re not horny kids.”

“Grown men are allowed to have needs, too.”

Link’s chest felt tight with how badly he’d ached to hear that kind of validation.

“Let me help you unwind, Link. We might be a little rusty, but I bet I remember how things work.”

Link didn’t answer, but he did back up to lean against the counter, hands resting precariously close to the button of his fly. 

“Let me do this for you. You don’t have to move or think. Just let me…”

Link nodded. 

And nodded again. 

He beckoned Rhett closer with a crook of his finger and Rhett was drawn forward as if by an invisible thread. Rhett ducked his head down to kiss Link and Link kissed back. Roughly. Of course Rhett had been right, and Link did need this. He kissed Rhett until their lips were pink and swollen. Link nipped at the air between them and Rhett offered his bottom lip for him to gnaw on. 

Instead, Link raised his hands to Rhett’s shoulders and guided him down to his knees. Rhett tucked his fingers into the elastic band of the breakfast-themed underwear and in a jerking motion, lowered Link’s jeans along with them. 

Link’s cock hung heavy and full directly before Rhett. 

Link didn’t waste any more time going back and forth over whether or not this was what Rhett wanted - after all, when had he done a dang thing he didn’t want to do? 

“You tell me if you want me to stop.”

“And you don’t stop until you’re satisfied.” 

Sliding his cock past Rhett’s soft lips was like slipping into a crisp pool on a hundred-degree day. Why had he waited for so freakin’ long, knowing good and well how refreshing the waters would be? 

He thrust shallowly at first, getting reacquainted with the feel of him. Savoring the sensation over every inch as he moved in and out of the welcoming heat. The constant swirling mix of everyday decisions and existential uncertainties stilled in his mind as he bathed in the feeling of having Rhett’s lips wrapped securely around him. He threaded his fingers through wavy hair, the other hand gripping onto Rhett’s shoulder - desperate for as many contact points as he could cling to. 

Rhett was good, taking him with only a few delicious sounds of struggle. But when Link would try to ease up, Rhett doubled down on pushing him until the head of his cock agitated the back of his throat. And Rhett held close to Link’s hips even as he choked and gagged. 

It was rough, raw, and nasty sounding. It was every filthy thing Link had been yearning to feel. Had been ashamed to need. 

His brain was disintegrating into static as he emptied his desire into Rhett’s mouth, watching his come spill over to drip down into his beard like sloshed paint over the edge of the can. 

He didn’t love that beard, and didn’t feel bad for sullying it. But he had nothing except for love for the man that wore the beard. And he hoped he hadn’t damaged anything there.

“You really didn’t have to do this, Rhett.” 

Rhett was still wiping his face as he told Link, “All I wanted was for you to be happy. You haven’t been happy lately.”

“I’m happy now. And I was happy when we rode bikes the other day for the vlog.”

“That was eight days ago, brother! I don’t want that for you: being happy only one out of every eight days. I want you to be happy eight out of eight days, if that’s a possiblity. Now that we’ve… cleared your head a little. Maybe you can open up about what else is going on.” 

“Yeah,” Link smiled. Sincerely, for the first time in eight days. “We can talk about that.”


	15. High

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warning:** covid-19 / coronavirus talk
> 
> **Chapter Tags:** stressed Link, stress reliever Rhett, public sex

They had cut their NYC business trip short, and made all the responsible phone calls to keep their employees and business safe. Link could feel his own thousand yard stare as he walked through the airport in a daze. 

Rhett seemed too cool about everything, or maybe he was playing it cool? Even after all this time, when Rhett’s defenses were up it was hard to tell. And it was nothing personal. Link felt defensive, too. The whole world was on the defensive in unison. 

There was a sliver of beauty in that, when it wasn’t overwhelmingly and cripplingly terrifying.

“We’re doing the right thing, right?” He needed Rhett’s constant validation right now. Link didn’t have a system for this, and he was uncomfortable with that reality. No matter how understandable. “I don’t wanna overreact and get people in a panic.”

“We are doing the best we can with the information we have. And people are being encouraged to stay home. A lot of places already got folks working from home.”

“But you don’t think we’re too late then? Like. Should we have already been staying home? Should we have gone on this trip at all?”

“Link.” Rhett pressed on the bridge of his nose, as if to center himself. “We’re getting on a plane. Not a time machine. We’re going home now. Not earlier. We are doing the best we can.”

There were only three other passengers on the entire flight. It was more eerie than the empty airplane had been. A passenger flight between two major cities and there was hardly a soul on it. Link’s stomach sank as he took his seat next to Rhett.

The flight attendants made a lighthearted joke that the passengers could feel free to spread out and put their feet up once they’d taken off. 

Rhett and Link did not elect to spread out.

“Told ya someday we’d get our own private plane,” Rhett winked.

Link forced a huff of breath from his lungs that was meant to pass for a laugh. 

“Just relax.”

Link closed his eyes, mind not stilling a beat as the plane took off and eased into cruising altitude. His mind raced with thoughts of his friends and family both in North Carolina and California; of his business; of Rhett.

Quarantine.

Two weeks they were saying?

He and Rhett had never gone that long without seeing one another. And technologically this the best era to have to go through that - with video chats and all.

But he knew it wouldn’t be the same.

His stomach found a new floor to sink to from where it had most recently sank.

He felt something drape across his lap. 

“What’re you doin’?” he asked Rhett as he draped the coat over Link’s legs and waist.

“Giving you a blanket. You always sleep through flights anyway.”

Link shifted in his seat. “Well, I ain’t sleepin’ on this one, I tell ya that--” 

Rhett shot him a significant look. “Would ya just leave it alone?” 

Rhett’s hand slipped under the thick coat and found a comfortable perch over the crotch of Link’s sweatpants. 

Link inhaled sharply as Rhett’s hand began to massage.

“Just relax,” Rhett repeated. 

Link’s eyes darted around the vacant cabin of the plane. And then he decided to follow Rhett’s suggestion and do just that - relax. Who knew when they’d have another chance to offer one another this comfort directly. His mind began to wander, as he imagined the future scenarios of sexts and videos and… “Oh!”

Rhett’s hand slipped under his pants and wrapped softly around his hardening member. Rhett’s touch was so comforting and intuitive as he lightly brushed the moisture beading at Link’s tip. His thighs tightened and trembled as Rhett easily worked him up. 

Link did his best to control his breathing and his face as Rhett’s touches became stronger and faster. Link glanced down toward the jacket that sheltered their movements from the eyes of others. The stiff denim material didn’t move as much as other material might have, and Link was grateful for that choice. 

“You gonna come in your pants for me?” Rhett leaned down to whisper into Link’s ear. The tickle of his breath made his dick twitch under Rhett’s hand. It sent a shiver down his spine that made him have to fight to not arch his back in his seat in a telltale posture. 

“That’s it, Link,” Rhett pitched his voice as a whine as he continued to whisper into Link’s ear which now felt like it was on fire with the heat in Rhett’s words. “You gonna come in your pants and then spend the rest of the flight thinking about who made you that filthy? And think about it days, and weeks from now, when you’re fucking your own hand and longing for the last time that it was mine?” 

Between the touch, the talk, and the confirmation that Rhett was already anticipating missing him as hard as he was him… It all added up to one of the most silently powerful orgasms that Link could remember ever having. 

Link turned his head into Rhett’s shoulder to stifle his growl as Rhett graciously slowed his strokes until he’d returned to the gentle massaging that they had begun as. 

Link took a deep breath, feeling momentarily lighter. And that momentary lightness was a gift. 

“I’m going to miss you.” Link said. 

“Yeah, you are.” 

Link elbowed him, and they both laughed. Rhett leaned down to kiss the top of Link’s head. 

“I’m going to miss you, too. But we can do this.” 

The ‘we’ was bigger than the two of them.

But it was the ‘we’ that was the two of them that built the well where he drew his buckets of hope from. Buckets of hope for the bigger ‘we’. 

Link surprised himself (but not Rhett) by falling asleep the rest of the flight.


	16. “You’ve always got me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags:** College Rhink, Pining Link, Oblivious Rhett, Blow jobs

Link knew it was selfish to make this about him, but it wasn’t easy playing the sympathetic friend when he was glad another one of Rhett’s so-called romances had bit the dust. 

“Do you wanna... talk summore? 

Rhett shook his head. “I just thought I  _ had _ this one, man.”

“What does that even mean? ‘Had this one’? That sounds freakin stupid.”

“She was okay to be around, y’know?”

“Pretty low standards for a relationship.”

Rhett shrugged. “I think I just feel like a jackass for not realizing sooner. The relationship didn’t have any of the…. important stuff.”

Link’s curiosity was piqued. “What kinda stuff?”

“Music tastes. No... adventurous spirit. I don’t think she got my humor either.”

Link’s skin burned with how unfair this was. 

“Adventurous spirit, huh..” he mumbled. 

“Huh?”

Link took a steadying breath before summoning his own adventurous spirit enough to meet Rhett’s inquisitive stare. “You’ve always got… me.”

Rhett smiled softly. “I know that, but it’s not the same.”

“Tell me why not! I got all that ‘important stuff’ you mentioned. Why don’t you give me a try?”

Link had shared his attractions toward men with Rhett years ago. And while Rhett had never offered clues as to if he could relate, and Link never pushed for clarification, he’d hoped if he was patient and just metaphorically… left the door open… 

But all Rhett ever did was loiter in the doorway, and Link was tired of waiting.

While Link’s mind was buzzing with potential, Rhett had come to stand before him. So close, there was no room for daylight between them. So close, he could feel the heat from Rhett’s body, warmer than the sunlight their proximity was blocking.

“There’s other… important stuff.”

“Like what?” Link asked, his voice feeling dry and raw.

Rhett shrugged. “Gotta be a good kisser.”

Link nodded absently, when suddenly the breath evacuated his lungs as Rhett’s lips were on his. Soft and tentative. Curious and careful. His arms slid around Rhett’s slim body as he’d so often dreamt. Rhett was guiding him down onto his bed with such gentle reverence, Link cringed as he ruined the moment by knocking his elbow against one of the bed boards. Once the physical discomfort passed they, both dissolved into laughter. 

“Do you... know what you’re doing?” Link asked gently. Careful not to bruise Rhett’s ego. 

“You’re the one bein’ all clumsy.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.” 

Link maneuvered Rhett onto his back, seizing the upper hand.

“I’m sure I can figure it out, or you’ll… walk me through it?”

“Or…” Link’s nerves steadied with the confidence of experience. “Why don’t you just let me get between those long legs?”

Rhett looked at Link with implicit trust. They’d always trusted one another: through their childhood, picking colleges, majors… It was a hint of something familiar that had been ever present as they moved forward in this unfamiliar direction. 

“You’re not gonna-?” 

Link huffed out a laugh, “No. Course not.” Link smirked. “Not if you don’t want me to, anyway. I was just gonna... give you something to think about?”

Rhett nodded stiffly as his legs went limp, allowing Link to strip his pants off. His legs fell open for Link as he slipped off the bed onto his knees. He coated his palm and fingers generously with lotion before giving Rhett a couple slow strokes. Rhett’s breathing hitched as he got used to Link’s hands on him. The big man melted before him; his body sinking into the mattress and he groaned at how good it felt. How firm and sure Link’s grip was. 

Once Rhett was putty in his hands, Link asked where else he could touch him. 

“Anywhere. Anywhere you want.” 

While Link believed him, it wasn’t good enough. And he told him so. 

“Your fingers…” Rhett weakly clarified. “I want… you can try…”

Link grinned as he planted kisses around Rhett’s hip bones, loving how Rhett subtly shifted underneath him. Squirming for things he didn’t quite know how to ask for. 

He didn’t know how to ask, but Link was determined to give them to him all the same. 

Link ghosted a fingertip over Rhett’s nervous, twitching entrance, lowering his lips to take the head of Rhett’s cock slowly past his lips. He gently pushed a fingertip past the reflexively loosening muscle, earning Link’s ears the sweetest sound he’d ever heard escape Rhett’s lips. 

Up until that point anyway...

Link was gentle and patient as he pressed his finger into the tight heat of Rhett’s hole. Rhett wiggled his hips, experimenting with the idea of pressing back - like he might want more. He arched his back, moaning and whimpering as Link skillfully swallowed his shaft until Link felt the tickle of soft auburn fuzz against his lips. 

Link could have cried at how cathartic it was to finally be in a position to give Rhett everything he’d always felt his body deserved. Seeing Rhett - always posturing, large, and so guarded - coming undone by his touch. Link had secretly longed for this; but, he was realizing now as the combination of surprise and relief washed over him, he never believed it would happen. 

It was happening now. 

Link eagerly, greedily swallowed everything Rhett had to give him as he came in Link’s mouth, pulsing around his deeply buried finger. 

Link swore he’d hear Rhett’s low rumbling groans, crying out his name in his dreams for the rest of his life, even if this first time proved to be the last. 

“You were right,” Rhett told him softly, as their bodies and minds recovered. “I wouldn’t have had a clue how to do anything like that.”

Link was prepared to shrug off the compliment, until Rhett sowed hope into bed of his heart with his next words. “Next time’ll be different. I got a clue now.” 

Link forced a laugh and tried to hide the happy tears threatening to leak from the corners of his eyes. “It’s about time...”


	17. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Notes**: Vampire AU, Vampire Link, blood

Rhett woke up bathed in scarlet light. His body was stiff with waking as he got up and wandered out onto the deck to watch the blood red sunset. It was morbidly beautiful, and surreal as the bleeding sun sank into the treeline. 

Rhett had always wanted to live out in the middle of nowhere. And Link’s… accident… had given them the perfect reason to isolate from civilization.

He used to sweat with nerves waiting for Link to rise, but these days he found himself anxiously tapping his foot with anticipation.

Finally, he heard the sliding glass door open, and a chill ran up Rhett’s spine. Accompanied by a warm stirring in his shorts. He didn’t have to turn around. First of all, who the hell else would it be? But moreover he could _feel _Link’s presence. This wasn’t anything new as they’d always had a connection, and preternatural awareness of one another. It was simply more pronounced these days.

They didn’t greet each other. That would be like greeting your own reflection in the mirror upon waking.

It would never sit well with Rhett, the way Link looked when he first rose. Too close to what he was: dead. He was gaunt and pale, dingy eyes dark and lifeless stones sunken into shadowy sockets. Rhett had learned not to cringe at the sight, and took comfort in knowing that this version of Link’s existence wouldn’t last. And that Link himself would. 

The timing of the storm came on as if Link had brought it outside with him. Which was ridiculous. Link’s undead status held no sway over the weather. And the storm had been brewing before Link ‘woke’ that evening. The eerie color of the sky had been a clue of the high pressure and debris in the air ushering in the rain spitting down on them now.

“Nice night,” Link said, his humor as dry as his dessicated body. 

“I dunno,” Rhett smiled. “Still might be.” 

Link smiled, lips cracking as he did. While copious amounts of chapstick came to mind, Rhett knew that was not the offering Link required.

“Should we… go inside?” Rhett suggested.

“I like it out here just fine,” Link tilted his head toward the sky, relishing the feel of the rain on his face. “Besides, what’s the point of living in the middle of nowhere if we can’t have some fun outdoors?” 

More than receptive to Link’s suggestion, Rhett stood up and took Link’s frail frame into his arms. Rhett needed Link so badly - he could only imagine the yearning that Link felt, having an actual instinctual need for Rhett’s body. 

But Link was always so patient. Waiting for Rhett to offer, despite the shared understanding that Link could simply _take _at any moment. 

Rhett slowly eased them down onto the deck of the patio. The hard wood was hell on his back, but soon all aches and pains familiar to a man of his stature’s accumulated 42 years would be eased. 

Soon. They would come together, and be mutually restored. 

Link kissed his way up Rhett’s bare chest and made his way to the humming pulse under his jaw, a location conveniently obscured by Rhett’s beard. He hummed his dry lips there, Rhett knew how Link savored the warmth of his skin, and the blood that rushed beneath it. 

It stung. 

It burned. 

It stole the air from his lungs as Link’s fangs penetrated him. But the pain eased as Link sank all the way in. The pain shifted to unbelievable pleasure, as whatever venom or magic animated Link’s undead form was like a drug when shared with the living. The first time Link had done this, Rhett came in his pants. He had more control now. Developed a tolerance. It didn’t stop his hips from shifting and bucking beneath Link’s body on top of him. Gum-deep inside of Rhett’s neck, Link’s body began to take on mass. His skeletal frame filled out with the lean muscle that had adorned it in life. Shoulders full and strong, his ass rounding out and firming in Rhett’s hands. After a moment of bliss that felt endless and timeless, Rhett found himself holding the man that he loved, as he’d best remembered him. Eyes bright, crystalline, fiery and full of life and lust. 

Link’s teeth withdrew from Rhett’s neck, and his lips were painted beautifully red and wet. His cheeks were flushed with mortal desire, now that his immortal one had been sated.

“Rhett… “ Link’s voice was smooth and melodic, as if his very vocal chords were infused with vitality. 

Link didn’t need to say more. Rhett cupped his perfect ass and sat up to lift Link in his lap. Rhett pressed and slid himself inside of Link. Watching his ethereally beautiful body arched into the feeling of getting fucked on his porch with the cool night’s rain pelting his body in the dying light. Rhett was surprised the rain didn’t sizzle on his own body with the heat that he felt blazing inside himself like a furnace. He watched as Link’s jaw opened as he moaned his pleasure. Rhett’s eyes followed a ruby droplet of his own blood as it dripped from Link’s fang to roll off his plump crimson bottom lip, over his perfectly sculpted jawline to drip down onto his rain-slicked chest, and was washed out by the droplets of rain running down his statuesque body, beading beautifully over his hardened nipples. 

“Fuck me, Rhett,” Link begged and Rhett could swear that he could feel the plea inside and out. Ringing in his skull, vibrating through his body, wrapping around his physical being. Link was _everywhere _as Rhett clasped tightly to Link’s corporeal body, thrusting himself inside with everything he had. As if it might be the last time he had the opportunity. All the while knowing that so long as Link desired it, there would be no ‘last time’.

There would always be a new sunset.


	18. "Don't cry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: COVID-19, post-quarantine reunion, anxiety, stressed Link, stress-reliever Rhett, brief mention of Jessie

Rhett imagined their reunion a thousand times. Now the moment was here, it wasn’t going anything like he’d envisioned. 

In his daydreams, they’d locked eyes and were drawn to one another, like opposite magnets, into a slow-motion embrace. Smiles tearing their faces into blissful halves in their giddiness at being reunited. 

But there was nothing giddy or blissful in Link’s demeanor, now Rhett had eyes on him. And it was hard to lock eyes with someone that wouldn’t lift their gaze after parking his car outside the creative house. 

Rhett had had the silly notion that they should film their first meeting post-quarantine. It was the content the two-man vlogs were made for! Now, he was glad he’d kept that misguided idea to himself. Link looked like a wounded puppy as he approached Rhett. 

“Hey,” Rhett offered tenuously. Rhett’s eyes worked him over. He looked… thinner, weaker? Tired. His man looked exhausted. He knew Link had been under a lot of stress, but the magnitude hadn’t sunk in until now. Link looked like he was about to detonate into an explosion, or implode and simply cave into himself. 

“C’mere, bo.” Rhett extended his long arms, and Link folded into them numbly. It wasn’t the slow-motion, happy-teared embrace that Rhett had dreamed of, but it felt good to hold him again. “You okay?” It was a stupid question. But it was all he had. 

Link nodded into Rhett’s chest, but his shoulders betrayed him as they began to shake. 

“Let’s just… get you inside?” Rhett felt like an asshole for looking around as he guided Link inside. What was he checking for? To see if anyone was going to witness his best friend, a grown-ass man crying; or catch Rhett comforting Link like a child? Rhett scolded himself for focusing on the wrong things, re-centering his intentions on Link.

“What can I get you? What do you need?”

Link shook his head; his trembling intensified until his body was wracked with sobs. Rhett held him tightly and soothed, “Shhhh, shhhhh. Don’t cry.” 

He wasn’t good at this. Never had been. But he remembered something Jessie had told him when their kids were younger and more prone to breaking down into tears. 

*You don’t urge them to stop crying for their sake.

You do it out of your own discomfort.

Let them cry when they need to. 

Let them get it out.*

“Actually, Link. Go ahead and break down. I got you.” 

Link looked up at him, puzzled.

“It’s okay, bo. I got you, go on and cry.” 

Rhett took Link’s flushed and swollen face into his hands, and wiped the tears with his thumbs. 

“You’ve been under an unprecedented amount of stress. And holding it together for everyone you love. For everyone but yourself. You don’t have to be strong for me. Just… let it all fall apart.”

Suddenly Link was grabbing onto Rhett’s shirt, forcefully pulling him down onto the sofa, bringing Rhett’s face to his tear-tracked one. 

Rhett’s heart hammered as he kissed Link back in earnest. He wasn’t trying to take advantage of the vulnerable state he was in - but god, if this hadn’t been the physical outcome he’d been secretly hoping for. The real reason he hadn’t mentioned filming. He’d wanted this moment for them. Alone.

“Link, I don’t know if you’re thinkin’ clearly right now…” If Link stopped now, Rhett would be simultaneously the most proud and regretful of this level of restraint.

“Rhett. I need this. I need *you*.”

“Need me to—?”

“Please, Rhett. Don’t. Don’t act like you don’t know.”

Rhett nodded. Of course, he knew. 

Rhett could feel it as he held Link tightly, the tension easing from his body and he became softer, more pliant. He followed the lead of Link’s body. With lips, tongue, and hands. Trying to be everywhere Link needed him. Absorbing all of Link’s stress and anxiety into himself. 

He was a big man. 

He could take it. 

Link undid Rhett’s belt and opened his jeans. He pulled out Rhett’s hardened cock, and gave it a couple slow strokes that made Rhett feel like he might leave his body and this whole earthly plane behind. Link then started to buck his hips to momentarily push Rhett off of him as he slid his own pants down and off. 

Rhett looked at Link and began to speak, but Link cut him off.

“Don’t ask me again. Just fuck me.”

Rhett kissed him, and meant it with his entire being. He gripped Link’s straining hips, prepared their bodies best he could with tears and spit before roughly bringing them together. 

He pressed until his hips were flush with Link’s. He could barely catch his breath with how cathartic this felt after being apart for so long. Seemingly taking his breath away as Link started to come alive. 

He worked himself inside of Link he, worshipping the man beneath him with hands and eyes. He began to see what he’d been yearning for: Bliss. Elation. Absolute love. 

Link was finally breathing easy. Deeply. Moaning sweetly for him. 

It wasn’t long before he was emptying himself into Link, and refilling his soul with what had subconsciously become foreign. Hope. Safety. He was complete again. 

Link was still trembling, but he wasn’t sobbing; his huge grin must’ve been agony for his face muscles. 

“Holy shit….” Link sighed, catching his breath, and wiping sweat and tears from his face. “Crying like that… that… *release*. And the endorphins from that incredible orgasm piggybacking on the already wide open… feels?! Goodness, Rhett. I don’t reckon I’ll come like that ever again without blubbering like a baby? I think you’ve both healed and ruint me!”

Rhett shook his head as they both laughed, lying together hand-in-hand, boneless and blissed out.

The psychological and physiological confirmation that they weren’t meant to be apart was nearly worth the experience of having been so for so long. 

“The new normal…?” Link said. 

Rhett smirked. “I’m looking forward to it already.”


	19. Puzzle (Angsty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N**: The RTW trio did a genre swap for this prompt, so this one is **angsty** rather than my usual smutty offerhinks. Enjoy 🖤
> 
> **Chapter Tags**: angst, regret, pining Rhett, flashback to college Rhink, hopeful ending

Things had been light and flirty between them lately. That was the spade that Rhett lived for, and exerted superhuman levels of self-control to not push the limits of. 

When Link playfully snapped the waistband of his boxer briefs, Rhett leapt on the defensive.

“I’m sorry, man. Didn’t realize anything was out of bounds with you. Hold on. Is that a… tattoo?” 

Rhett’s underwear had ridden high enough up his buttcheek to expose a tattoo in the shape of a puzzle piece. Or rather, the empty space where a missing piece of a puzzle might go. 

“How’d I not know you had this?”

“Because you’re not supposed to be lookin’ at my bare ass, Neal!”

Link’s brow furrowed.

“Does it… mean somethin’?”

Rhett swallowed the lump in his throat. They didn’t have secrets between them. Aside from this particular secret that Rhett had tried desperately to keep buried. Because if he let it see the sober light of day, who knew what else might get dug up. Or worse, what might get buried in its place.

_ They’d stumbled back to the dorms.  _

_ Beyond tipsy.  _

_ They’d had their arms around each other, allegedly to hold themselves up on their jelly-legs. But Rhett knew in his heart that he was committing his impaired focus to remembering the feel of Link’s waist under his hand, his brain silently screaming that it belonged there. He still felt Link’s body like a phantom sensation as he pulled away and headed down the hall. _

_ “Wrong turn, dumbass,” he called out in a whisper. _

_ “I meant to go this way!” Link insisted, not at all in a whisper, putting his hand on the doorknob of their floor’s common area - assuredly locked this time of night.  _

_ Rhett shushed him harshly. _

_ “Whassa matter, Rhett? You don’t wanna watch a movie, or… play a game with me?” _

_ Rhett knew it had to be the booze, but he coulda swore Link was flirting. _

_ “It’s locked, brother. And you gotta lower your voice.” _

_ Their eyes went wide in unison as the door opened. A mischievous grin spread across Link’s face. “Someone forgot to lock up.” _

_ Rhett felt he had no choice but to follow him inside. He closed the door behind them and it was near pitch dark. _

_ “We’re not s’posed to be in here,” Rhett said lamely. _

_ “We’re not s’posed to be in here,” Link mocked in a sing-song voice. _

_ Rhett startled backward, discovering the shadowy form of his best friend closer than anticipated. He stumbled l into a table that someone had left an unfinished puzzle on. “You gotta lower your voice, man,” Rhett insisted. “You’re gonna get us in trouble.” _

_ “Lower your pants, and I’ll show you trouble.” _

_ Rhett was speechless as he felt Link’s hands fumbling to undo his pants. How long had Rhett wanted this? He couldn’t ever remember  _ not _ wanting Link. But did Link want him? Or was he just drunk?  _

I should stop him,  _ he thought.  _

_ But he didn’t. _

_ The loose puzzle pieces bit into his flesh as he rested his weight against the table, leaning back and forth into the sensations, biting down onto his own upper lip. _

_ The look on Link’s face after would haunt him for decades. _

_ They returned to their room in silence.  _

_ Rhett couldn’t look at him. Why had he let Link do that? Did Link hate him now? Rhett remembered salty tears streaming down his face as he worried himself to sleep. _

_ The next morning Rhett woke up with a headache, and a puzzle piece stuck to his asscheek. He plucked the piece from his skin just before hearing Link’s rough voice travel down from the top bunk.  _

_ “Wild party, huh?” _

_ “Sure,” Rhett said nervously. _

_ “I, uh... don’t even remember getting home.” _

_ Whether Link forgave him or forgot him didn’t matter. Rhett just had to be sure he never let that happen again. He grabbed a pen from his nightstand and traced the still visible imprint of the puzzle piece. A reminder to never be so careless with the one he cared about the most. _

_ When the artist asked him, “Why a missing puzzle piece?” _

_ Rhett replied, bitter. “Because a broken  _ Link _ of chain would be a little too on the nose.”* _

“It means I made a mistake. It’s just... a reminder is all.”

“The common room in the dorms,” Link said wistfully. But not exactly unfondly.

“You remembered?” Rhett breathed.

“Man, we weren’t that dang drunk. You, uh… wish that room had been locked?”

“Nah, I think I needed to see that look of…” Rhett cleared his throat, hoping he wouldn’t cry. “To see how disgusted you were... after.”

Link rested a hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “I wasn’t disgusted. I was scared. I couldn’t imagine what you musta thought of me that night. That I was the kinda guy that just did stuff like that? Or that I’d try it again with you. Which, by the way, I am that kinda guy, and I woulda done it again in a heartbeat. If I didn’t think it would scare you away from me. If I thought you’d still wanna have all this with me.”

Link gestured vaguely, and Rhett knew he meant more than the dressing room. 

“You never spoke of it,” Rhett said, trying to keep the accusation out of his voice.

“Neither did you.” Link smiled softly. 

“I just didn’t wanna mess things up between us more than I thought I already had. When we fell back into our normal rhythm, I knew I couldn't tempt fate again.”

“Do you still… feel like that?”

“Every. Damn. Day.”

“Then consider me tempted.”

Link pulled Rhett down for a kiss. Link’s lips were soft, and as warm as the tears running down Rhett’s cheeks.

“Shit,” Link murmured.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just thinkin’ how painful it’s gonna be, now that I gotta get that ‘missing piece’ tattooed on my ass…”


	20. Bus Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: snowed in, intercrural sex

Link couldn’t remember what made them think touring in the winter was a good idea. It was cheaper to tour during the off-season, he thought to himself. Or, for that matter, why a tour bus? That part was Rhett’s fault. He said it was more romantic. Cinematic, Link preferred. 

A tour bus made them feel like rockstars. Living out teenage fantasies that never quite came to fruition. They’d traded them for something they’d never dreamed of as kids, because this career trajectory hadn’t existed back then. 

But now, in the midst of their multi-city jaunt to promote their tv show, based on their bestselling novel, their bus had gotten stuck - snowed in.

Link didn’t feel like a rockstar. 

He felt like a prisoner. 

He could do worse for bunk mates. Rhett was quietly reading a book. He was being deliberately quiet, and Link could tell he was trying not to annoy him. 

It was kinda cute. 

He decided to be considerate too. He’d made a habit of daily meditation, but let it slip while on tour. If ever there was a time for mindfulness, this was it. 

He sat up to expand his lungs, and tried to bring his legs into a tucked position. But his maneuvering extended himself the wrong way and his calf muscle seized up into a painful cramp. It was the size of his fist, and the pain was sucking the air from his lungs. Well, there must’ve been some air in his lungs - enough to make audible groans of pain that startled Rhett from his reading. 

“Hey! Do you need some help?”

Link grit his teeth and hissed, “No! Just… cramp. I— it’ll pass…”

Rhett approached Link’s bunk and isolated the knot of muscle through his pajama pants, massaging it as Link buried his face into Rhett’s shoulder; muffling his howls into Rhett’s shirt, gripping onto him so tightly he’d likely leave bruises. He didn’t know if Rhett’s touch was making it better or worse, but he didn’t want him to stop either way. 

The cramp passed, the pain eased, and Link was left breathlessly clinging onto Rhett - who never stopped massaging Link’s calf as he asked, “You okay, man?”

Link nodded, and tried to catch his breath. 

“Is this... okay?” Rhett asked softly, nodding to his hands on Link’s leg. 

“Yeah,” Link nodded. “It… it feels really good.”

“You wouldn’t cramp so easily if you stretched regularly, like I do.”

Link rolled his eyes, but then thought better of mocking him. “Can you... help me with that now?”

Rhett appraised Link skeptically. “Sure, Link. I can do that for you. These pants seem loose enough.”

“I could take them off?”

“That would be… real helpful.”

Link stripped his pants off, and Rhett’s eyes widened as Link revealed that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Rhett didn’t acknowledge the revelation further as his large hands roamed Link’s long legs. Trailing the smooth skin from ankle to thigh. 

“You’ve started shaving again?”

Link blushed and nodded. “It feels nice.”

“Fuck yeah, it does.”

Rhett pressed Link’s legs together tightly and folded them toward his chest. 

Link’s heart hammered in his chest with anticipation as he allowed Rhett to expose the white understudies of his thighs - and he didn’t know exactly what else. He wasn’t familiar with the view of himself from this position and angle. 

Link whimpered as he felt Rhett’s mouth licking and nipping at his delicate skin. Working its way toward the center of Link’s body.

Link then sensed Rhett’s hot and heavy breaths against the sensitive skin of his sack, wedged between his thighs and presented to Rhett for tasting. 

He moaned aloud as Rhett’s wet tongue caressed him. Gently licking and suckling on his balls, isolating each testicle beneath the loose skin and releasing the sack, covered in saliva. 

Link’s voice broke as he tried to speak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I have lube in my bag?” He offered weakly. 

“You… what? Did you plan this?”

“Yes, Rhett,” Link snipped, half embarrassed. “I planned a snowstorm, and our bus getting buried.”

“Why did you bring… lube?”

“I planned on being stressed out, man! Because of the tour… I planned on jerking off at some point.”

Rhett shrugged and retrieved the lube, generously drizzling it over Link’s thighs, massaging it into the tight musculature. 

“Fuck, you look good, all wet and slippery…”

“You can do more than look,” Link whined. “Please?”

Rhett experimentally slipped a finger and then his entire hand into the warm slippery embrace of Link’s thighs. Link then heard Rhett unzipping his pants, and Link tightened his thighs together, wanting Rhett to use him. 

He felt Rhett tapping his hardened cock against his backside, and Link wiggled his butt for more attention. Rhett tapped Link’s balls lightly with his dick, teasing him a bit before he began to slide himself between Link’s legs. The warmth and wetness was unreal. Rhett soon began to thrust more forcefully between his thighs. 

Link fought the urge to spread himself for Rhett, and let Rhett seek his pleasure in Link’s body however he wanted. Link was able to catch a glimpse of the pink head of Rhett’s cock as it pushed its way between his thighs muscles. Poking in and out like the world’s most obscene game of peekaboo. Link brought a hand down to rub at the shiny head when it pushed through and Rhett went at him harder and faster until he was dribbling streams of come between Link’s gorgeous thighs. 

Rhett reached down to Link’s own neglected and wanton cock, and the same hands that had massaged Rhett’s aching cramp from his leg worked his throbbing cock to completion. 

“That’s your stretching routine, huh?” Link asked, once he was able to form words. 

“That’s just one variation,” Rhett assured him with a wink. “They can’t get this bus moving for long enough, and I’ll show you all kinds of ways to relax your muscles.”


	21. Peach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: established relationship, birthday sex, rimming

Peach tea and peach pie were served at the office for Link’s birthday. It made sense, it was well-known that he preferred pies to cakes. And there were several references to his “Sweet Peach, know your worth” quotable moment. 

On the ride home, Link commented that he’d had his fill of peaches, and Rhett said there was still one sweet peach that he was dying to get a taste of - if that was something Link was willing to explore. 

Link had his reservations. This wasn’t on his go-to menu of sexual activities. 

Rhett was patient, giving him privacy to clean himself, and drawing a bath for him to relax in and reflect on whether or not he wanted to try it. 

Peaches-and-cream scented candles adorned the windowsill, and Link didn’t imagine the peachy color of the towels was a coincidence.

Rhett had put a lot of thought into this proposal.

Link knew Rhett would never pressure him into something he didn’t want to do, and somehow that just made him want to do nearly everything that Rhett suggested. 

Rhett was his safe space. 

Link covered himself with a robe before moving into the bedroom. 

“How you feelin’?” Rhett asked carefully. 

“As ready as I’m gonna be.”

“If it’s too weird or uncomfortable, you tell me and we’ll stop. We can do something more... familiar, or just. Get dressed. Watch a movie? The point is for you to feel treasured, gorgeous, and mouth-watering.”

Link felt himself swell with the heat of Rhett’s words as Rhett took his place kneeling behind Link. 

Link shrugged out of his robe, tucking it underneath himself like another blanket. Rhett placed his hands over Link’s round ass and jiggled it in his hands. He smoothly stroked along his cleft with his thumbs before leaning down to exhale a hot puff of breath on his skin before leaning in to finally get his lips on Link’s sweet peach. 

“Rhett…” Link murmured, body seemingly torn between loosening or seizing up.

Rhett kissed the pink ring of muscle lightly, sending Link into shivers and moans. He ghosted his lips over his hole, gently touching at the sensitive nerve-endings beneath the hot skin, teasing his tongue over Link’s taint nearly making him giggle at the ticklish sensation. 

As Link’s body relaxed in Rhett’s care, he lowered himself against the robe. The tension diffused from his taut form as he began to open, wordlessly offering himself to Rhett.

Rhett caught a glimpse of Link with his eyes slipped serenely shut, plump lips hanging slightly open.

Rhett licked at him again, broadening his pointy tongue to lick at Link - broad strokes shifting toward pressing motions, feeling how Link’s body welcomed the intrusion.

Rhett used thick fingers to pull Link farther apart, spreading him wide to gain more access. He only withdrew when his drool began to drip down his beard. He licked his lips at the sight of Link’s full body blushing from his pretty face down to his broad, angular shoulders. 

Rhett ogled the sight of Link’s hole twitching and glistening with saliva. His thumb down, pressed and rubbed until Link was moaning and wiggling to Rhett’s satisfaction. 

“Fuck…” Link whimpered, fingers clutched hard into the bedding as his hips shifted back against Rhett’s tongue, not so subtly begging for more. 

Link rutted against the bed, into the towel below his hips. The coarse material was a bit rough, but the sensation was balanced by the pleasure coming from Rhett’s tongue. He could feel Rhett smile against his skin as he got closer and pressed deeper - making Link’s body jump as his vision went fuzzy; a hoarse, wrecked moan dragged itself from Link’s throat as his hips continued jutting backward. 

Rhett held Link’s hips firmly in his hands, never allowing Link to lose sight of how strong he was. He lapped at Link's skin and spat so that his pink hole was wet and glistening. Link whined and arched his back when the spit ran down his balls, bringing Rhett's attention to Link’s leaking hard-on. 

Link shifted his weight to get a hand on himself, but Rhett wasn’t about to let Link do anything himself. He slid his own hand down to fondle Link's balls and cock before properly tugging at him. 

"Nnnnngh ..." Link groaned, hips beginning to tremble. Rhett kissed his hole, licked his lips and leaned back down to slip his tongue back inside the heat of Link's ass, releasing another broken moan from Link. 

Rhett looked up to see Link rhythmically squeezing his fist tangled up in the blankets, his face tight and flushed. Rhett couldn’t make out many words as Link babbled under his breath; though he did catch ‘God’ and ‘please’; ‘fuck’ and ‘Rhett’.

Link planted his knees to better prop his hips up, poking his sweat-slicked ass into the air. Rhett gripped Link’s hips between his hands and brought his ass to meet his lips one last time, licking in easily now Link was so wide open and hungry. Rhett fucked Link's ass with his twisting tongue until Link’s little mewls turned to howls, then one long continuous cry as he fisted the sheets, throwing his head back and grinding his hips back desperately against Rhett’s face. Then thrusting forward into his robe.

"Fuck fuck fuck." Link whimpered, his voice high and shaky. "I'm there, Rhett, I'm right fucking there. Just—" 

Link's breathing hitched as Rhett shook his head, and wriggled his tongue. Link's body convulsed as his orgasm tore through him, accompanied by a scream that filled the bedroom. 

Rhett dropped his hips to the bed, playfully slapping Link's ass and making him yelp; come dribbling out the head of his spent cock, trickling down his shaft. 

Rhett crawled up to lie on top of Link’s back, tugging at his ear until Link turned his head enough that he could kiss Link’s slack, smiling face. Rhett then buried his nose happily against Link’s jaw.

“Happy birthday, sweet peach. Hope you always know your worth.”


	22. “I can’t sleep. Can I stay here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: dirty talk, hotel sex

Whether or not they’d needed hotel rooms had been arguable. Though neither of them argued. The awards ceremony was close enough to their homes. But they wanted to have a few cocktails and enjoy the celebratory evening without having the chore of driving home afterward hanging over their heads. 

Instead, Rhett sat anxiously on the edge of his bed, wondering if Link’s silhouette would soon fill his doorway the way he had anticipated that it would at the end of the night. They never discussed it ahead of time, but it always felt like a foregone conclusion in Rhett’s mind. The surest of ‘sure things’.

That is, right up until this specific moment. Sometimes it would be minutes, sometimes hours. But in the time between them retiring to their separate rooms and the time that they were reunited - and the concept of ‘separate’ dissolved from comprehension - there was always a sliver of doubt that nestled its way into Rhett’s guts and twist.

He will come, Rhett assured himself.

If he didn’t, Rhett vowed to crown him the King of Missed Signals. But if anyone could get their wires crossed to such an extent, it would be Link Neal. Social cues were often lost on him. 

But he would come.

Besides, even ignoring precedent, tonight had been more than a subtle wink or a seemingly significant look that could have been misinterpreted. It had been overt, drenched with intention.

Rhett closed his eyes and could almost feel Link’s fingers.

\---------

Link’s fingers brushed over his arm as he’d leaned in to whisper, any excuse to breathe hot breath at Rhett’s neck. Rhett could feel the slight tremor under his touch; his anticipation. He felt that Link was just as pent up and frustrated, and that if it wouldn’t have been considered rude, Link would have just dragged Rhett off, and skipped all the evening’s events. 

But it wouldn’t stop Link from teasing, drawing his hand under the table slowly along the inside of Rhett’s thighs, tormenting him with uncharacteristic grace.

“Rhett?” Link asked with a shaky voice. A question. A request. An acknowledgement that this was inappropriate, but an unspoken offer for Rhett to push him away if he thought it for the best.

“Link.” Rhett found himself just as breathless with the attempt to remain discreet. His eyes wandered the room, confirming that the crowded room was full of unseeing eyes, oblivious to the desire radiating off of both men.

“This okay?”

“I mean…” Rhett’s eyes refocused on Link’s. “We shouldn’t, obviously.” He chewed his lip and slowly pressed his crotch against Link’s warm open palm, eyes. "We shouldn't…" he trailed off, biting his lip as he pressed back against the other, his eyes falling closed as he just enjoyed the feeling. 

Rhett watched Link’s chest rising and falling in heaves that were barely perceptible, but if you knew to look - they were there. His hand continued to brush between Rhett’s legs as he leaned in to whisper in Rhett’s ear with a tickle of breath that threatened to make Rhett ruin the inside of his expensively tailored dress pants. Underwear would have been practical, but just like staying in hotel rooms - the more practical option wasn’t always the more fun one.

"Oh, so you know that we shouldn’t…?” Link taunted. “But you just can’t help yourself? Look at you, Rhett. Rutting against my hand through your clothes. Mmmm, I just wanna bend you over this table and fuck you. Tear those fancy clothes offa your body and let these people see that you’re mine. Take you hard and fast until you can’t think to say nothing but my name. And I know you want me inside of you, slowing it down from fuckin’ to love making. Working you out from the inside, slow and sweet until your voice is ragged from hollerin’ my name with pleasure. And goodness, Rhett. Thinking about filling you up with my come, plugging it up inside you and lettin’ you hold it there until you get back home. I keep thinking about how sweet your face will look after hours of getting fucked, your entire body aching from me, and knowing you’re still holding my load inside you, I--”

Rhett cleared his throat abruptly and pulled away, his lungs gasped unevenly for air and his ear felt on fire from the lusty things Link had poured into it. His cock was rock hard and he hoped he wasn’t leaving any wet spots on the front of his pants. He stood up on shaky knees, hoping he wouldn’t collapse under the weight of Link’s dirty talk. Hoping he could keep his composure enough to not drop to his weakened knees and beg Link to take him right there. 

“I, uh. Have to go back to my room now. It’s been a long night.”

\---------

Link’s knuckles had just grazed the door before Rhett was eagerly tearing it open. 

Link stood outside with a wicked grin on his face. Like a vampire just knowing he was gonna be invited in. 

“I can’t sleep,” he said with a wink. “Can I stay here?”

He hardly had time to deliver the bad line before Rhett was dragging him inside, brashly promising,

“Imma rip these clothes offa you and ride you nice and hard.”

“Yes, please,” Link was all Link managed to utter before Rhett silenced him with kisses, and slammed them both down onto the bed. 

He’d heard enough talk. 


	23. Nature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: outdoor sex, butt plugs, power exchange

Rhett’s knees buckled and he doubled over trying to catch his breath while he focused most of his energy on not coming in his pants.

Again.

Hunching over put him at a convenient height for Link to pet his hair, affectionately running his fingers through Rhett’s wild auburn waves.

“There, there, honey,” Link soothed. “Take your time. We got all day.”

Rhett tried to catch his breath. Link had found a plug with a unique curve to it that nestled perfectly against Rhett’s prostate, grazing it and sending agonizingly, mind-meltingly pleasant sensations reverberating through Rhett’s body every time he took a step. 

Link had helped him slide it in, positioning it to Rhett’s liking, and then demonstrated the potential by initially guiding Rhett on shaky legs around their bedroom before suggesting that they go out for a hike. 

Rhett had come in his pants three times already: once in the car as Link navigated a bumpy path that just barely qualified as a road - suspiciously managing to hit every dip in the trail and root sticking up out of the dirt. And then twice as they walked. Link had simply watched with giddy amusement every time Rhett had lost control. 

“You’re enjoying this?” Rhett had exclaimed in disbelief, and frustration with his own inability to control his body.

“You have no idea, bo.” Link made a subtle grab at his junk, plainly engorged, before offering a near imperceptible wink and turning up the trail.

Rhett involuntarily clenched and lost himself again, bringing himself down to his knees, clutching helplessly at the moss. 

“I could take that out for you,” Link offered, his voice kind but with an edge that let Rhett know that there was a ‘but’ coming. “But,” (Ah, there it was.) “If I do… I’m gonna have to fuck you right now.”   
  
“Here?”

“Yes, here, Nature Boy. Right here on the grass, under this canopy of trees. Is that an issue? Or… should we keep hiking?”

Rhett nervously looked around. He didn’t think that he’d seen any other hikers in a while. He sighed, and quickly undid his pants. This had to end! He didn’t think his body could take it.

Link’s expression let Rhett know that he’d made the decision he’d been hoping for. 

Link used gentle strength to roll Rhett onto his hands and knees on the side of the trail. 

“Do ya even have any, y’know?”

“You don’t think there’s enough come in your shorts that I couldn’t just lube you up with that?”

Rhett winced. 

“I’m kidding, honey. I don’t just wear this cross-body fanny pack as a fashion statement! Course I got lube in here.”

Rhett flinched as he felt the cool touch of Link’s hands on his come-dampened inner thighs, spreading them apart and lowering Rhett to a height that Link could work with. Rhett began to shiver with anticipation as he heard the wet sounds of Link lubing himself up. He held his breath as Link eased the plug out, jolting his oversensitized body, and then they exhaled harshly and in unison as Link slid himself in its place.

Link filled him better than any plug or toy, and Rhett felt his body warm both from the inside and the warmth of the sun on his face as he tilted his head back to gasp at the fresh air and stretch himself out and back against Link’s shallow thrusting. He pressed his palms into the dirt and pulled the grass right up out from the earth as Link buried himself. 

The orgasm that Link was helping to seed within Rhett sprouted from a place that was completely different to the sharp and electric ones ripped from his body by the plug’s constant stimulation. This one grew from somewhere deep in Rhett’s soul, enriched by the feeling of Link coaxing his body to accommodate his place within him, and his rough hands were soft on Rhett’s skin as his fingers traced their reverence for him with their caresses. His previous orgasms had rocketed him off a cliff, whereas now Link was personally propelling him with the same sensation and power but this time he wasn’t being launched.

“I got you, bo.” The tremble in Link’s rough voice did nothing to take away from the security that Rhett felt under him. 

He felt had. 

And held. 

Link lowered Rhett down into a lying position as he kept his hips elevated and rocked himself against Rhett’s body, pushing Rhett into a grounded, duller, fuller field of ecstasy. Link grunted as he spilled himself on the rolling hills of Rhett’s perky buttcheeks, 

“Fuck, Rhett. You been so incredibly good for me today.”

Rhett hummed, still smelling the scent of the forest floor. “You’re good to me every day. So…?”

Link gave him a sharp open handed slap on the ass before helping Rhett to compose himself. He put the plug in a plastic bag before stowing it inside his fanny pack.

Rhett brushed himself off a bit, but still felt like a little kid with dirt and grass stains on his elbows and knees. 

“I think when we get home, I’d like to draw you a bath. Help you wash up?”

“You gonna take care of me, Link?”

“Yeah,” Link blushed. “I think I’d enjoy that.” 

Rhett just smiled. He didn’t have to tell Link that he didn’t mind the sound of that either.


	24. “Forget It.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: CMNM, power exchange, spanking

Rhett has grown comfortable with his own nudity. He’s more than comfortable with the way that Link’s gaze devours his body. Roaming over his skin as if there’s anything left to undress with his eyes.

Rhett kneels beside Link’s twin bed in the creative house, resting his head against his thigh. He rubs his unkempt beard over the rough denim of Link’s jeans, sighing happily when Link raises his hand to pet his hair with slow, even strokes.

Rhett is a big man - as everyone knows - but Link’s hand feels large to him. Large, controlling, and safe. He feels at home under those hands.

They can sit like that for a full hour. Rhett savoring his ability to feel secure in his nakedness and vulnerability with Link. And Link enjoying… Well, Rhett imagined there was something about him giving himself over to him in this way that gave him a sense of control he didn’t always feel in ‘normal’ life, where things were never exactly to his specifications, and anxiety pried at the edges of every interaction. 

Link instinctively tightens his hold on Rhett’s long hair, tilting his head back to meet ice blue eyes. Link was always able to read Rhett better than he knew himself. 

“What do you need?” Link lowered shaky, yet confident, fingers to stroke the skin beneath Rhett’s bearded neck. As often as they played at power exchange, Link always kept his voice low. The unstated fact that he didn’t need to raise it to demonstrate his hold over Rhett was enough to make Rhett hard. 

Rhett clears his throat. He trusts Link. Implicitly. But he’s still working on asking for what he wants. It doesn’t come easy to him, and leaves him feeling infinitely more laid bare than his nakedness ever could. 

He nods in response to Link’s question. The thrill of having the full intensity of Link’s attention focused squarely on him makes Rhett giddy. He wonders if Link can see through to how close Rhett is to humping his clothed leg and begging to be spanked. 

“Rhett?”

“I…”

Link tilts his head curiously, waiting for Rhett to find his words. 

“Nevermind.”

“Oh, I absolutely mind.”

“Just… Forget it.”

“Hm, you think I’m gonna forget the sight of you naked on your knees, fumbling for how to tell me what you want me to do to you…?”

Rhett decides to just show Link what he wants. He crawls away from Link’s feet, bracing his elbows against the edge of the bed, allowing his spine to lengthen and decompress, lifting his tailbone and wiggling his exposed cheeks. He buries his blushing face into the sheets.

He feels the bed shift as Link rises to his feet, and Rhett is left softly whimpering before he feels a reassuringly gentle touch on his freckled shoulder. “Goodness, Rhett. What a gift. What am I s’posed to do with it?”

Rhett growls into the mattress, taking a deep breath before mustering the gumption to ask Link,

“Spank me. Please?”

Rhett cannot see Link, but he would bet anything that he was smiling ear to ear. 

“Thank you, Rhett. That you can share what you want with me makes me… very happy. Almost as happy as punishing this beautiful skin is gonna.”

Rhett’s breathing begins to stagger as he feels Link’s hands cup and caress his ass. Kneading the muscle, and subtly spreading him, making small sounds of adoration as he does. 

Rhett wiggles happily and pushes his hips back toward Link. “Yesss, please.” He is practically begging now as a fine tremor of anticipation works itself through his body. Rhett curls his toes into the floor as Link hovers. 

“You gonna stay still for me?”

Rhett nods once, the quick gesture makes his long hair bounce and he shivers for a fraction of a second - a rush of goosebumps surfacing on his skin. 

Link’s hands are warm against Rhett’s skin, as he strokes the supple skin and teases with light touches. 

“This isn’t actually a punishment. But I would love to make you feel it for days after...”

“Yes,” Rhett quickly clarifies so Link will hurry up and touch him like he yearns to feel him. “I will tell you if it’s too much, just—”

Link chuckles quietly at Rhett’s impatience. “Careful. You wanna try ordering me around and this can become a punishment real quick. And by that I mean that I won’t whoop you at all.”

Rhett cringes. Link didn’t make idle threats. He did not like Rhett testing his dominance within this setting. 

Rhett’s cock begins to leak as his hips shift, seeking a surface that he would not find. He bit his lip to stay patient as he waited for the sharp kiss of Link’s hand on his flesh. 

Link did not keep him waiting. 

He brings his hand down with a sharp smack, and Rhett can’t help yelping at the hot pain on his backside, pressing back for another blow. 

Link indulges him with a flurry of slaps.

The sound of his strikes ring around the sparsely decorated room, combining with Rhett's grunts and moans. Rhett was shivering at the contrast of the heat on his ass with the cool room air, a bloom of pain tingling across his skin. 

He felt hot all over, needy, ready to be fucked; all he could do was squirm and futilely thrust his hips against the frictionless air before him. His weighty cock bobbing sadly. 

“You can touch yourself,” Link mercifully informed him. 

Rhett silently thanked god as he seized the opportunity. (And his dick.) 

Link delivered a particularly harsh wallop, sending Rhett lurching into the mattress. The delicate contact against the rough cotton sheets sent him over the edge accompanied by an embarrassingly high mewl before his body went limp. 

Link’s loving hands soothed the abused skin, warm to the touch and bright red. 

“You fuck up my sheets, McLaughlin?” 

“Um, yeah. Seems so.”

“Good boy. Let’s get you, and the linens, cleaned up.”


	25. Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: lingerie, genderqueer Link, gender dysphoria and questioning, supportive Rhett, healthy existing relationship 🖤

Link posed seductively in the satin tank top and frilly panties that Rhett had gifted to them.

Rhett tickled Link’s shoulder with his beard and nipped at their skin, nudging the thin delicate strap down their shoulder. Rhett then worked his way lower, caressing the delicate nipples that lie erect beneath the silky material. 

Link arched their back and moaned. “Lower, Rhett… Want your mouth on me. But like… just a little?” 

Rhett growled, hungry for his lover’s pleasure and pulled the sliver of elastic that pinned the lacy edge of the panties to Link’s skin down just enough to expose the sensitive tip, and Rhett lowered his lips to lick tender and torturous strokes of his tongue that sent Link shivering and hooking their legs around Rhett. 

“Fuck me?” 

Rhett nodded, panting. “Uh. Panties on or off?” 

Link blushed. “On?” 

“‘Kay..” Rhett gently flipped Link over, surveying their body language despite knowing that Link would tell him if something felt wrong, or off.

Rhett pushed the panties to the side, and slicked Link up with an obscene amount of lube, fingering shallow and teasing. 

“So wet for me, Link…”

Link whined and pressed back against Rhett’s fingers. 

“Your body’s just beggin’ to get fucked. That right?”

“Yes! Please, Rhett!”

Rhett didn’t keep them waiting. He lined himself up and pressed into the wet heat, savoring the sight of Link bucking and arching; just losing themself in the connection. 

They’d engaged in clandestine foreplay all day long, so it was no surprise when before long Link was making a mess between the sheets and their belly; and Rhett was filling Link’s ass, watching his come leak out and mix with the excess lube, soaking Link’s pretty little undies. 

“Holy shit,” Link sighed after they’d both collapsed onto the bed. 

“Gosh, that never gets old,” Rhett grinned. 

Link’s shoulders twitched with a silent chuckle. “Hm…”

“What’s on your mind, darlin’?”

“You ever wish I was more… manly? I mean, ya do like  _ men. _ ”

Rhett snorted. “I like  _ you _ .”

“Yeah, but I’ll see a guy who’s rugged and traditionally masculine and… I just know that I don’t feel like that hardly ever.”

“Just because you’re eying rugged, manly men don’t mean I am.”

Link punched his shoulder.

“I think about it all the time, though. When I start trimmin’ my hairs and I'm compelled to... keep going. As I’m baskin’ in how nice it all feels, I worry I’m not attractive to you.”

“When you ‘bask’ in how beautiful you feel, that’s when you’re  _ most  _ attractive to me.”

“And I know you like m’beard sometimes,” Link continued. “And so do I… sometimes? But I can’t have it for long before I start to not recognize myself in the mirror…”

“Maybe it’s good your hair grows so quickly. You can choose to have facial hair or not, as fluidly as you’re comfortable?”

“Fluid…” Link rolled the world around his mouth trying to decide what he thought of it. 

“I’m not sayin’ that’s what you…” 

“It’s okay,” Link assured him. “We’re just talking… Sometimes I feel like none of… all this…” They gestured vaguely at nothing. “If I’d had the right language for it growin’ up, would I have latched onto one of these identities? Now I’m older, and just kind of…” They shrugged.

“I know you like putting things into little boxes, and being able to put labels on them. But life ain’t always like that. And that’s okay. If people care, they’ll listen, and help you be comfortable letting them know how you feel.” 

“I feel like… I don’t  _ want to _ change my name, or my… body. Not usually. Though, people that do are absolutely valid! I’m actually afraid that makes them more valid. I mean, I ain’t even picky about pronouns. Not that people who want those things are picky!! Fuck… Pronouns are important. They’re  _ so  _ important. Specific ones just don’t resonate with me. Certainly not with any consistency. So, like, am I just… making this up?”

“Your experience is as valid as anybody’s.”

Link sighed. “And it’s not about women’s jeans, or lacy lingerie. Sometimes it feels so personal, and  _ subtle _ , that it doesn’t feel... worth mentioning?”

“Worth it to whom?”

“People that’re just gonna be confused!”

“Their comfort is not more important than you openly living your most authentic life.”

“And if I don’t say anything, because the dysphoric feelings are so… mild. It hurts folks that identify strongly with being genderqueer, non-binary, agender, and all these things that I don’t quite know how I relate to. But when people say ‘Those identities don’t exist’. I wanna scream, ‘Yes the fuck they do!’ But when people that know me relatively well - but don’t know exactly  _ this.  _ I just… It is an opportunity to show people that gender is  _ not  _ binary. And that yes, they  _ do  _ know people ‘like that’.” 

“That’s not your job, and you can tell them whatever and whenever you choose. And it’s okay that it’s not easy to know how to articulate it. But that reminds me: I have another gift for you. You could wear it to Pride this weekend. But only if you wanna.”

Link opened [a pin](https://spectrumboutique.com/nytc-pronoun-pin.html) that’s face was divided into thirds, a pronoun on each third: HE, SHE, THEY. And a tricolor dial that adjusted to which pronoun the wearer wanted to show the world. 

“The dial can loosen over time with frequent spinning, but you can just wrap something here on the back to increase the friction. So. Y’know… spin away!” 

Link blinked back grateful tears, fingering the dial until it landed on THEY. 

Rhett’s cheeks rose with happiness at Link’s reception to the gift. Link wasn’t wearing enough clothing to pin it, so they set it down on the bed beside them.

“I love you.” Rhett kissed Link softly. “Even if you are a little  _ quare  _ from time to time.”

“Y’know… I think I actually prefer ‘queer’.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then. Happy Pride, you queer, quare, and wonderful person!”


	26. Independence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: established relationship, phone sex, mutual masturbation

“We’re really not gonna fuck for two whole weeks?”

“Wow, real romantic, Neal.”

“If we quarantine early, later on we can treat our homes as rooms of a shared house.”

“Later on? Rhett. How long do ya think…?”

Rhett didn’t answer that. He didn’t see how things could go back to normal without a vaccine. And he couldn’t imagine one being safely and widely available within the year.

But hadn’t called to make Link panic; he had called to make Link come.

“Relax,” Rhett assured him. “Two weeks and we’ll be back together.” He paused, trying to come up with the least awkward segue. “Uh.. Anything I can do to help you relax in the meantime?” The suggestiveness of his offer dialed up to 11.

“What’re you…? Are you serious right now?!”

“A global pandemic is a very retro thing to be going through… maybe there’s a retro solution to our... intimacy issues?”

Link snorted. “We don’t have intimacy issues. We’ve got proximity issues. Phone sex, Rhett? Really? It’s kinda… awkward?”

“How so?”

Link paused before answering. “What if I just… text you later?”

“Whoa whoa whoa. Hold up there, buddyroll. I know you aren’t trying to turn this into a sexting session!”

“Why not? We’ve done that plenty.”

“It’s less intimate, man! And you can’t pay as close attention.”

“That ain’t true!”

“It is true. I say that as someone who has casually replied to your ‘sexy messages’ at work, in an Uber, on the freakin toilet. It’s not as intimate, or focused.”

“Huh…”

“Plus, without having to text, you got another… Ahem, free hand.”

“Ha. Well, if you wanna get more interactive, why don’t we do a… video thing?”

“The phone leaves more to the imagination! I don’t wanna be overstimulated and distracted. We don’t need technology or each other’s physical body to get off. I just wanna focus on your voice. The sound of your breathing, the shifting of your sheets. It seems very... freeing. And I… I’ve been thinking about this a lot.”

“Gosh, Rhett. I can see that.”

“You can’t see nothin’, bo.”

Link chuckled. “True. Um. Okay, we can try.”

“Okay,” Rhett thought for half a second. “What’re you wearin’?”

“Seriously?”

“Fine. I’ll start. I’m naked in my bed.”

“Doubt it.”

“Did you miss the part about imagination?”

Rhett heard a sigh on the other end of the line.

“You don’t wanna hear about how I run my hands over my naked body imagining it’s you?”

“I’m listening…”

“Where would your hands travel first?”

“Your hair,” Link answered quickly. “You say you don’t like when I pull on it, so I don’t. But I love running my fingers through it.”

“You can pull it now.”

“Huh..” It seemed like Link was catching on now to the fantasies that were open to him over the phone that weren’t always in person. “Okay, then. I’m gonna yank on it. Tilting your head back to lengthen your neck and get your naked body fully elongated.”

“Oh, I’m definitely fully elongated.”

Link’s chuckle on the other end was almost a giggle.

“I can feel your breath on my exposed neck. It’s making me shiver underneath you. My cock is dripping for you..”

“Hm. Well, not yet. I wanna get a nibble at that neck. More than that. I wanna sink teeth in.”

Rhett’s heart raced at the suggestion. Link had never bitten him. He wasn’t sure he wanted him to, but it was extremely hot hearing Link open up about things he wanted to explore - and Rhett liberated from any pressure to act on them in the moment. Without worrying his face or body language would somehow make Link feel judged or distracted.

“Go ahead,” Rhett urged. “Bite as hard as you want, leave marks.”

“You don’t care about the cameras back at work, do you? Or maybe you want the people to see?”

“Let ‘em see everything, honey. What else do you want after my neck?”

“You want me to lay you out on the desk? Suck you off on camera?”

Rhett moaned as he wrapped a hand around his cock. “Yes, please. Suck me.”

Rhett found himself stretching out on his bed, imagining Link lying him on their desk - imagining how he might look like this on the monitors.

Rhett touched himself as he imagined Link hungrily hovering over him before wrapping his lips around his cock.

“Your mouth is so hot and wet,” Rhett moaned into his phone. He put the phone on speaker and laid it down next to him so he could get both hands on himself.

Link’s voice sounded deep and thick when he spoke again. “Mmm you taste so good. I hope you don’t mind me touching myself while I suck on you.”

Rhett loved the imagery of Link looking up the length of Rhett’s body, broad shoulders working as Link jerked himself off. No matter how frequently he’d taken in the sight of him like that in real life, the fantasy never got old. Even without Link’s voice in his ear, it was one of his favorites. Hearing Link’s voice vacillate from strong and sultry to weak and breaking as they spurred one another closer and closer to their separate and yet shared finishes, Rhett knew he wouldn’t last long.

When Link’s voice hit Rhett’s ear it traveled from his brain and then down his body in a chill that made the hairs on his body stand erect and made his skin sing. It was a familiar song that Rhett easily harmonized with in the form of moans and whines and completely coming undone at the climax.

He mumbled whatever filthy encouragements his come-drunk brain could think up as he helped Link reach his own orgasm. They lie in a shared and sacred silence for a while before Link granted Rhett a second satisfaction as he uttered one of Rhett’s favorite sentences from Link’s lips, a close second right behind ‘I love you, Rhett’:

“That was a good idea, Rhett.”


	27. "Trust Me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: hotel sex, exhibitionism, a very horny Link bringing a cuck-ish fantasy to play..

“Now that was a fun party!” Link removed his mask and collapsed bonelessly into the chair in the corner of their hotel room. 

“Yeah, sure was.” Rhett knew he didn’t sound convincing. Which was odd, because he agreed: It had been a fun party. 

“What’s up?” Link asked instinctively. 

“There were a lot of people… making out and stuff.”

“It’s a costume party, man. It brings it out in people. People go full-on Eyes Wide Shut.” Link’s eyebrows danced a little.

Rhett snorted. “They weren’t doin’ all that! Not that I saw, but… I could never get that kind of anonymity. No matter how good my costume or mask was. There’s no way to make a guy my size inconspicuous.”

Link walked over to the sliding glass doors that opened onto the balcony. He opened them, and made a circuit around the room switching on all the lights. 

“What’re you…?”

“Trust me.” Link placed Rhett’s mask back on his face, and then his own before he began undressing them both. 

Rhett looked over Link’s shoulder at the open doors, knowing that at night and with the lights on - they’d be as illuminated as if they were on screen. Their room was high enough that people off the street wouldn’t get a show, but anyone looking out from a floor on the same level would get an eyeful. And there was no shortage of rooms fitting that description in the downtown area. 

“If you’re worried about your size...” Link pushed Rhett onto his back on the bed. “All men are the same height lying down.” 

Rhett looked toward the open doors again, not with nerves that they might be seen. But for reassurance that they would be seen. That the bed was positioned perfectly for the doorway to frame their king-sized stage. 

“I suppose you’re right, more or less,” Rhett said with a smug grin, as he wrapped a hand around his own cock, swollen with the thrill of their exhibition, and raised it to its full height. 

Link stripped down to nothing but his mask, and yanked Rhett’s pants the rest of the way off. He spread Rhett’s legs enough to fit himself between them, his bare ass touching his heels as he knelt before Rhett. He leaned down to lick at the head of Rhett’s cock, he stuck his butt in the air and pressed his hips back, deliberately thrusting them back dramatically each time he pulled his lips from base to tip.

“Gosh, Link,” Rhett groaned. “What’re you backin’ that thing up against? You know ain’t nobody or nothin’ back there!”

“Would you like it if there was?” Link’s lips parted in a wicked grin, spit making them as shiny as he’d made Rhett’s cock. 

Rhett propped himself up on his elbows, and tilted his masked face curiously at the question.

“If we were back at the party, Rhett. Would you wanna watch a handsome stranger rail me as a choke on your dick?”

Rhett’s cock twitched and he couldn’t keep the whimper contained in his chest, whining audibly as Link wiggled his perfect, perky ass in the air. 

Link stroked Rhett’s drool-slicked cock, soothing it as it longed to return to Link’s mouth. Rhett arched his back at the touch, thrusting shallowly into Link’s grip. 

“I’d, uh…” Rhett swallowed the thick need that formed an ache in his throat. “I’d rather fuck you myself...” 

Link licked a slow trail up Rhett’s thick shaft. Pressing his thick tongue into the soft spot under his sack and dragging the broad muscle over and up his length. “You can’t be everywhere at once...”

Rhett’s whines turned to growls at Link’s teasing. 

“You wanna get fucked by a stranger, Link?”

“Not particularly. But if you’re watching, that changes things. Can it be a big man? Not as tall as you, of course. But he’s gotta be strong to give it to me how I need it. Thrusting me forward, makin’ me gag on ya. God, Rhett, can you imagine?” 

Link aggressively took Rhett down until he had to come up for air, gagging and panting - strands of precome and spit making a mess of his face. 

“Fuck my face for me, Rhett? I’ll make it feel real good for ya, moaning around your big dick while I imagine gettin’ drilled.”

Rhett was speechless, but he didn’t need words. 

What he needed was a toy, or a plug. 

But what he had, unprepared as he was for this fantasy, was his fingers. 

He sat up, maneuvering himself into a sitting position with Link sideways, leaning down to swallow his cock. Rhett’s long arm stretched down Link’s back, and then down his backside, feeling his cheeks spread and finding his hot hole twitching for him. He slipped his finger inside to the first knuckle; just giving him a suggestion of fullness and pressure. 

It must’ve done something for him, because Link did moan around him with pleasure as he sucked him off. 

From his seated position he had a view out the balcony doors, and wondered if anyone was watching. Touching themself at the sight of them together. 

Rhett hoped so. 

Rhett was getting close. “You like the idea of a whole party of people seein’ you like this? That why you opened the doors - you want the whole city to see?” 

Link couldn’t respond with his mouth full, so he just moaned around Rhett’s cock as his hole quivered and contracted around his fingertip. 

Rhett finally released into Link’s mouth, after Link pulled off and wiped his mouth he wondered aloud, “Ya think anyone was actually watching?”

“If so, they’d better buckle up.” Rhett helped Link from his knees and folded him over the bed. He walked over to their suitcases. Rhett hadn’t thought to bring sex toys, but he knew to bring lube. “I may not be able to be everywhere at once. But I can make my way around over time. And we got all night.”


	28. Manbun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: car sex

Link was nervous about attending his high school reunion. He hadn’t kept up with people from his hometown, trying to reinvent himself in LA. This was now a personal challenge to return to the setting where he’d existed as a shy, closeted boy. 

The experience wasn’t as terrible as he’d feared. Time and distance had given him the confidence to openly engage with these people he was meeting again, and to whom he felt he was introducing himself for the first time. 

He was casually conversing with his old science lab partner when he spotted the only person he’d actively hoped to see there. 

Link had been hopelessly smitten with basketball star and all around charmer, Rhett McLaughlin, since junior high. 

He was hard to miss. Not many stood half a foot taller than his own respectable 6-foot frame. Aside from that, he looked like a different kind of guy. His clothes were thoughtfully put together, and his hair was… long. Long enough to pull back into a knot on the back of his head. Not one of the styles offered to young men in Buies Creek when they were teenagers. Rhett’s hair was always buzzed for efficiency, and when he wasn’t wearing his basketball uniform, he wore il- fitting t-shirts and baggy jeans.

Had they even had the term ‘manbun’ back then? If so, Rhett McLaughlin certainly wouldn’t have had one. But this Rhett did; and Link couldn’t take his eyes off it. Aside from darting to his ringless ring finger. His heart pounded with hope. 

He did what he’d never had the balls to do his entire tenure at Harnett Central High School: He went up to him, and said hello. 

To Link’s surprise, Rhett remembered him! Even seemed happy to see him. 

“I always thought we shoulda hung out more. But I was scared. Y’know, because of the... assumptions people made?”

Link shrugged. “They assumed correctly.”

“That’s why we shoulda hung out more,” Rhett said with a wink. “I wasn’t brave enough to ‘out myself’ by association, or pressure you to be interested in me as your only option.”

Link felt like he was dreaming.

“You were the only option I was ever interested in.”

Rhett took a long, slow sip of his drink. “The option is still available, if you, uh… wanna get outta here?”

“Wow. That’s a pretty corny line, man.”

“It’s gonna work though, isn’t it?”

* * *

Link had hoped to be driven to Rhett’s place, but Rhett drove them farther into the woods. Finally, they pulled into a clearing overlooking a lake. Between the water sparkling underneath the moonlight and the stars twinkling in the night sky, Link couldn’t recall a more beautiful scene. “You remember this place?”

“I’ve never been here before.”   
“Really? You never brought anyone out here? Back in the day, this was the spot, man!”

“Guess I was kind of a late bloomer.”

Rhett didn’t give Link a chance to be embarrassed, leaning across the center console to kiss him softly. “I’m honored to be your first.”

“First out here anyway. I’m not THAT late a bloomer.” The gentle tickle of Rhett’s beard gave Link chills.

“Glad to hear it. It’d be a shame if no one's lovin’ on this hot little body of yours regularly.”

“Is that what you wanna do?” 

“Wanna take you. In the backseat, if that’s okay?”

They fervently undressed each other, and awkwardly maneuvered their too large bodies into the back. 

“How do y’want me?” Link husked breathlessly between rough sloppy kisses. 

“Lookin’ at me,” Rhett answered immediately. “I fantasized about those blue eyes more than I care to admit, back in high school. I wanna see ‘em when I’m inside you.” 

Rhett had come prepared with lube and condoms in the glove compartment, and made some terrible joke about it being the ‘love compartment’. 

They didn’t exactly fit in the backseat, elbows and heads knocking into seats, windows, and roof; but the big man fit between Link’s legs like he belonged there, and before long Link was alternately gasping and holding his breath as Rhett worked himself inside. 

They were panting and sweating, but managed to find their rhythm together. Link felt dizzy, enveloped by the sheer size of his old crush, living out his high school fantasy of getting railed by the basketball star - all that was missing was the uniform. He was tempted to close his eyes and picture it. But Rhett said he had wanted to see his eyes. And the reality of present day Rhett was better than any nostalgia-fueled memory. 

Link had buns in both hands. His left hand grabbed onto Rhett’s ass as he thrust inside him, and his right hand gripped tightly to the knot of thick hair on his head. 

It was a lot. 

Rhett was a lot. 

“Nnngh. C’mon, man. I’m tender-headed,” Rhett complained. 

Link fumbled with the knot until the manbun unraveled and auburn waves freely hung around Rhett’s face like a wild mane. Just when Link thought he couldn’t get any sexier...

“Fuck, Link,” Rhett grunted as he chased his orgasm, close but not quite there. “Yer hotter’n you were 20 years ago. You’re so tight, honey. You sure you’re gettin’ it good enough back home?”

Link didn’t trust himself to speak, but he also had lost all semblance of self control. “No. Never got it this good. Please, don’t stop!”

Despite Link’s lusty plea, Rhett eventually did shudder, grunt... and stop. But he lifted his trembling body off of Link enough to skillfully tug him off. 

The whole experience was so overwhelming, Link thought he could cry. 

Instead, he held it together enough to thank Rhett for bringing him out there. 

“We wouldn’t have been able to get nearly as rowdy if I just took ya to my parent’s house. Although, my childhood bedroom might’ve been kinda… kinky somehow?”

“You’re... just visiting?”

“I don’t still live in Harnett County. I moved out to LA a coupla years ago.”

Now that… was interesting.


	29. Dance

** _Choosing a partner is an integral part of dancing. You cannot simply pair-off talented dancers. There is an abstract component of matching, or complementary, skill, vision, and balance. Some pairings are obvious. Some require trial-and-error._ **

Rhett can’t believe he’s in detention. His ‘bad word’ hadn’t been that bad! Now he was stuck inside during recess, missing an opportunity to make friends. 

He looks up and makes a silly face at the kid across from him, also in detention for not-so-bad words. He makes a sillier face back, and Rhett laughs. The boy’s face illuminates, and Rhett doesn’t feel disappointed about missing recess. 

He’s found a friend right here.

This would be enough for an afternoon.

** _Once you’ve selected a partner, ensure you are firmly anchored. To yourselves and each other. If you find you’re not moving in the same creative direction, it can throw your routine - regardless of individual performances._ **

Throughout junior high, Link was annoyed whenever Rhett had a girlfriend. Now Link had one, and was being a jerk about it. They’d go entire weekends without seeing one another.

“We’re watching a movie Friday, aren’t we?”

“And the rest of the weekend...??”

“You gotta be up my butt all weekend?”

Rhett supposed not.

When Friday night came, Link fell asleep during the movie - his head on Rhett’s shoulder. And Rhett thought, yeah… 

This would be enough for a weekend.

** _The timing of your steps is crucial. You may feel a hyper-awareness in balancing twists and pivots with steps forward. The balance may shift from time to time. This is completely natural. Trust your partner. _ **

They had months of blissful limbo between high school and college. They’d rinse the sweat from their naked bodies in the Cape Fear, and sunbathe dry. 

It was natural, Rhett thought.

They were literally in nature. 

It wasn’t weird.

The feeling he got looking upon Link’s ‘natural state’; his stomach erupting in butterflies when they stretched out on the rocks and their pinkies locked together instead of flinching away...

It wasn’t much.

But this would be enough for a summer.

** _Expect some shuffling, and repetitive motions. You may find yourself shifting your weight at uncomfortable intervals - going over movements ad nauseum. Hang in there, and remember not to overthink it; allow yourself to move naturally._ **

Rhett got whiplash from the back and forth. Expected to act ‘normal’, and be Link’s friend and roommate in public. 

Then, in the privacy of their dorm room, becoming more than roommates. The years of careful restraint violently torn apart under the sheets. Lips crashing together, stroking unknown pleasures from one another with hands and mouths. 

“I can’t superimpose these two versions of ‘us’,” Rhett whines. 

“We won’t always have to,” Link promises.

This would be enough for a start.

** _The dance may feel chaotic. Too many kicks; not enough claps. You may feel tempted to quit the clumsy, confusing shuffling and stomping prematurely. Rest assured, there will be a payoff. You’ll find your rhythm._ **

“Should I propose?” Link asked one night, after putting in long boring hours at their engineering jobs. 

“To whom?” 

“Well, not to you. We… can’t do that.”

“Well, you don’t have to do… this!”

“What can we do, man?”

There was a pause.

“Runaway with me?”

Link snorted. 

“Seriously. We’ll go to California or... Somewhere we can be... ourselves.”

“Lemme think about it?”

Rhett kissed him, hoping it gave him enough to think about.

This would be enough for now.

** _All dances end. Except for those people in 1518 that danced until they died, or were hospitalized. Either way, they ultimately did stop dancing. But surely there are more graceful ways to complete your dance. _ **

Years later, in their home, in their bed, Rhett’s hands hold tightly to his husband's hips. He’ll leave bruises; not to ‘claim’ him, because he finally understands that Link is all his. 

Always has been.

Nonetheless, he can never seem to hold tightly enough, to have him close enough. Even when he’s inside of him, as he soon will be again. 

Link is slicked up wet and pliant beneath him. Rhett has worked him open slowly with his mouth, with his fingers. Link is relaxed, welcoming, damn near begging. 

“Don’t tease me no more, Rhett. Please, just fuck me already.”

“What’s your hurry, honey? This ain’t like the old days where we had to sneak it in when we had the opportunity. We got nothin’ but opportunity now.”

“Yeah, man, I get that. But that also means you can fuck me silly right now. We can take a nap, order takeout, and you can work me over again later. And again later. So.. maybe just… get on with it now?”

“Mmmm… you’re smarter than ya look.”

Link sticks his tongue out at Rhett, and grips the sheets as he braces himself for what he’s been begging for.

Rhett feels the tight heat squeezing around him as he slides inside, hand-in-glove, lock-and-key,

Link’s body arches up off the bed, his nipples could cut glass. 

He’s so beautiful, Rhett can hardly hold himself together. 

They relax into one another and begin to move, the dance making their bodies harmonize and sing. Link is covered in both their sweats when he pulls Rhett down to kiss him as Rhett fucks him slowly, deeply. Link’s jaw drops open and falls out of rhythm with their kiss. 

Rhett just holds his lithe body close, nuzzling him with the wild and unkempt beard that he knows his husband loves to hate, and loves him fiercely until he feels him shudder, stiffen, and go blissfully limp in his arms.

Rhett tries to enjoy the moment, but struggles to not look forward immediately to the ‘again later’ that Link promised. (And the ‘again later’ after that…)

This would be enough for a lifetime.

** _After the dance has ended, take time to recover, and grab water for you and your partner. Allow yourself to bask in the beauty that you have created with the simple movement of human bodies._ **


	30. Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: Strip-memory game; blowjobs; come swallowing

“You’ll buy me lunch?” Link clarified. “If I get this right on the first try? Whatever I want? Even if it’s... ‘not very healthy’?” 

Rhett smiled. “Even if it’s not healthy.”

“Those stakes are kinda lame, brother.”

“Ha! How about if you get it right, I’ll strip down to my undies and… do a little dance for ya?”

“No undies,” Link countered.

“Fine. I don’t think you’re gonna remember it anyway. Now, when you do screw it up,” Rhett continued. “You gotta take off  _ two _ items of clothing. And try again until you’re stark naked.”

Link paused. 

He hadn’t spent enough time with their new opening phrase for it to have solidified in his memory. But as he envisioned Rhett’s eyes on his body, he wasn’t sure he wanted to win anyway. 

“Welcome to Ear Biscuits,” Link began halfheartedly. “The show where-“

“Hold up. The  _ podcast _ . Not show.”

Link shrugged before removing his Camp Vibes hat, and kicking off his shoes. 

“I’m assuming shoes are a two-for?”

“Damn right, Neal. Try again.”

“Welcome to Ear Biscuits. The podcast where two lifelong friends discuss— *shit!*”

“Nothing so self-important as a discussion. We’re just talking.”

Link shook his head before peeling his socks off. 

“Socks are a two-for,” Rhett insisted. “Same as shoes.”

Link slid off his glasses and set them on his desk. 

“Welcome to Ear Biscuits. The  _ podcast  _ where two lifelong best friends—“

“Wait. You  _ are  _ my best friend, but that doesn’t go into the intro. It’s just ‘two lifelong friends’.”

Rhett stared at Link hungrily as he lifted off his shirt and stepped out of his pants, leaving him in nothing but his boxers. 

“Gimme another shot?”

Rhett nodded. 

“Welcome to Ear Biscuits. The podcast where two  _ lifelong friends _ talk about life for a really long time.”

Rhett’s voice managed to be soft and cocky at the same time. “Just an hour, bo. It’s long, but I wouldn’t say  _ really _ long. And neither should you, if you wanted to keep your shorts on.”

Link boldly dropped his drawers, watching Rhett as Rhett watched Link peel the boxer briefs down his thighs. 

Rhett licked his lips as he watched Link’s freed hard-on bounce in front of him. 

“Technically, I still owe you one article. But as you can see, I can’t… exactly do that at this point.”

“Well,” Rhett cleared his throat to speak clearly. “You gave it a good try. So how bout I get you off instead?” 

Link didn’t have time for more than a sharp inhale before Rhett was walking him backward across the room until the backs of his bare legs hit the desk, and Link automatically sat down. 

Rhett sank to his knees and looked at Link like a feast to be devoured. He wet his lips with his tongue and parted them to wrap around Link’s hard cock. He slid down his shaft, and Link hummed as Rhett used his tongue to slick up his length - gradually sinking down until Link felt warm puffs of breath from Rhett’s nostrils at his base. 

Rhett paused there, and Link felt himself in the back of Rhett’s throat. He was tempted to move his hips, but didn’t want to gag Rhett and force him to pull off. Link rested his hands softly in Rhett’s hair, gently holding him in place, luxuriating in the feel of Rhett’s mouth and tongue working as best they could with a mouth full of cock. 

Rhett began to bob his head up and down Link’s spit-slicked length. He finished each stroke with a flicker, caress, or teasing tracing glide of his tongue over and around Link’s tip. Link shuddered, hissed, and arched his back. 

“Fuck you’re good, Rhett.”

Rhett hummed around his dick in appreciation of the praise. Link moved his hips just a little. Not really a thrust, just a little wiggle. His breathing deepened, and he groaned and whimpered as Rhett picked up his pace. 

And then abruptly -  _ tragically - _ Rhett pulled off, letting the drool hang down into his beard. 

“What the-?”

“Say it.”

“I… I did say it! You’re good, man! You’re fuckin’ fantastic. What else you want me to say?”

To Link’s great frustration, and confusion, Rhett laughed. 

“Not  _ that _ . Say the opening lines to the show.” 

“Are you kidding? Now??”

“I’m gonna get you back inside my mouth. You screw it up again and you’re gonna feel my teeth…”

Link’s eyes went wide with terror. “You  _ wouldn’t _ .”

“Go on then. Mess around and find out.” Rhett snapped his teeth together at the air between them. “But you get it right, I’ll suck the life outta ya and swallow it down.”

Link’s jaw hung open, and his eyes rolled up to the ceiling when he felt Rhett’s mouth on him again. 

Rhett smacked the side of Link’s thigh to prompt him. 

“Nnnnghwelcome to Ear Biscuits…” His breaths caught in his throat, coming out so ragged it was difficult to form words. “The podcast where two lifelong friends…. mmmmmhmmmmmtalk about life. *oh god, Rhett* For a long time!”

Link didn’t have to wonder if any of his moans or heated additions counted against him, Rhett let him know that he had passed the test by pressing his fingertips into Link’s thighs and shamelessly gagging himself on Link’s cock as he picked up the pace; taking Link deeper and faster, letting himself slobber all over Link’s dick.

Link couldn’t take his eyes off Rhett’s hair bouncing in his lap as he was rapidly brought to and shoved over the edge. 

True to his word, Rhett gargled and swallowed every drop. Link looked at him with equal parts disbelief and gratitude. 

“See, Link? You don’t need to drive around repeating a thing 80 times for it to sink in. You just need one good blow job.” 

Rhett winked, then stood up wiping his beard before walking back to his own desk leaving Link stunned and naked. 

Link didn’t think he’d forget the new intro. But he also thought maybe he should...


	31. Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: pet play, puppy play

The table was set, and candles lit. Rhett silently acknowledged that Link had outdone himself; and would have told Link himself if he’d been there, but he had yet to join him. 

There was a silver cloche at Rhett’s seat with a note from Link instructing him to lift it before Link’s arrival. 

A gift? Some kinda... special treat?

His heart rate remained elevated as he revealed the dog collar underneath. The metal of the tags glinted in the candlelight. A second note accompanied this revelation asking Rhett to be ‘dressed for dinner’ before Link joined him. 

Rhett was already beginning to pant like a dog, and they hadn’t started playing yet. 

His hands flew to undo the top buttons of his shirt. His hands trembled as he fastened the collar around his freshly exposed neck. Good boys didn’t wear half-unbuttoned shirts with their collars. Or pants, so he hurriedly unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, and peeled out of his dress pants. He took a deep breath before slipping off his underwear and socks. 

He sat down, flinching as the cool, polished wood of the dining room chair made contact with his bare bottom. He was just getting comfortable when Link walked into the room.

Link’s face fell into a disapproving scowl. 

“Rhett! Get down from there!”

Rhett’s heart was in his throat as he leapt from his seat like it was electrified. 

“Is this what you get up to when I leave you alone, you naughty pup? Climbing the furniture? I’ve warned you that I’m gonna have to start crating you.”

Rhett sank down onto all fours. He rested his butt on his heels as he settled at Link’s feet. He lowered his eyes, and let out an apologetic whimper. 

“You’re lucky I’m feeling generous.” Link buried his hand in Rhett’s curls, scratching his head.

Link set down a dog bowl, and Rhett was relieved it wasn’t full of dog food. Link did okay with it on the show, but it made Rhett’s stomach turn just thinking about it. 

This bowl was filled with traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a wedge of pumpkin pie. 

Rhett lifted his rear into a tabletop position and wiggled his butt, and lolled his tongue out, panting enthusiastically.

Link bent down, offering his face nuzzled. Rhett rubbed his nose into Link’s neck; he made his tongue as broad and wet as possible before licking Link’s cheek, feeling the faint scratchiness of new stubble beneath his smooth skin. 

Rhett’s dick was hard hanging heavily and openly and exposed; and he could see the outline in Link’s pants, suggesting that Link was feeling the same. 

Link’s tone also gave him away: low, thick, and lusty. “I bet you’re hungry, aren’t you? My big, sweet boy is always hungry.”

Rhett rested his elbows on either side of the bowl, and dipped his face down to take small bites.

“Don’t be bashful. Go on and enjoy that meal!”

Rhett got sloppy with his eating. Motorboating the piles of food. Getting it all ground into his beard. Gravy running down his chest, and food splatter painting his skin. 

“Oh yeah,” Link encouraged. “Look at that. Such a hungry pup. You deserve every bite, my good boy.”

Link’s loving hand reached to massage the back of Rhett’s neck as he finished licking his bowl. 

“Would you look at that? You licked it clean.”

Rhett wagged his tail-end at the compliment. 

“Your dish may be clean, but you’re a mess. Aren’t ya, boy?”

Link hooked a leash to Rhett’s collar and led him into the bathroom. He used an attachment to wash Rhett clean using a warm shower-stream of water. Rhett luxuriated in the feel of the warm water against his skin, and Link’s strong hands massaging him as he lathered him up. 

“My poor boy feels so tense…” Link’s hands isolated their movements around Rhett’s hips. “I bet I can guess what you need right now.”

Link turned off the water and slipped a hand under Rhett’s belly to wrap around his needy cock. He used the wet soapiness to slide his hand easily over Rhett’s hot and hardened cock.

Rhett knew he was already leaking and on edge when Link’s other hand snaked over his tailbone, sliding itself between his cheeks and made a home inside his hole. He felt overwhelmed by Link’s attention, and even if he had been permitted to use his words during their play he would have been hard pressed to string more than two or three together. 

In their heat, the water quickly dried up and Link fetched some lube from the cabinet. 

Rhett whined happily as Link slicked up his backside and was able to slide two fingers inside of him, opening him up and exploring all the ways to make Rhett howl like the dog that he was. 

Link held his wet and lubed fist for Rhett to fuck into as he bucked between Link’s fist and his fingers. Rhett’s knees shook and threatened to buckle. Rhett was only able to maintain his position due to physical boundaries (his legs didn’t really have anywhere to go in the confines of the bathtub), and his desire for Link to keep touching him exactly how he was. 

Rhett’s breaths were shallow and shuddering as he grew lightheaded as he chased down his orgasm.

Link held his upper body upright in tabletop position as his arms threatened to go limp once he’d found his release.

“Breathe honey,” Link soothed as he rinsed him with gentle splashes of warm water. He gently removed Rhett’s collar and brought an oversized fluffy towel to wrap around his still trembling body. “You did so good for me, babe. You can stand and speak now. We’re all done.”

Rhett cleared his throat, like he hadn’t spoken in days as opposed to the past hour. “Guess the tub makes for easy clean up…”

“Hm. For you perhaps, but I’m gonna have to change my pants.”


	32. “I’m never letting you go.” (Fluffy Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N**: The RTW trio did a genre swap for this prompt, so this one is fluffy rather than my usual smutty offerhinks. Enjoy 🖤

Rhett had butterflies in his stomach as he followed Link up the stairwell of the old science building. Link had a backpack full of surprises, and Rhett carried up a bag of Bojangles that Link had asked him to pick up for tonight. 

“The last time we sneaked up onto a school building, it didn’t end well.” Rhett said, referencing their mischievous antics from their early high school days.

“Well, try to restrain your impulse to throw rocks,” Link said with a smirk. “And maybe we will come away without any tanned hides.”

“Ha. I don’t recall your hide getting much color.” Rhett thought back on all the mild trouble they’d gotten caught stirring up as kids. Link’s momma never was as harsh with doling out the punishments as Rhett’s parents had been. Which was ultimately probably appropriate, since Rhett was usually the one that came up with the ideas. Link was only too happy to go along with whatever latest thing Rhett had dreamed up.

Something about that weighed heavily on Rhett’s heart tonight.

They followed the stairway up to the fire exit that led out to the roof. It was a clear night, and the stars were out in full force. 

Link opened his backpack and pulled out a large blanket. He spread it over the loose gravel that covered the rooftop, and gestured for Rhett to sit down.

“A Bojangles picnic?” Rhett said with a smile, sitting down comfortably next to Link on the blanket. He opened the bag and started to divvy up the biscuits and chicken. 

“It’s a celebration, man. We’re about to start our senior year of college. People told us these four years would fly by, but I’m still surprised.”

Link dove back into his backpack and pulled out two red solo cups and a bottle of wine. 

“Wow, this really is a celebration,” Rhett commented, putting on an edge of dry humor to conceal the way that his nerves escalated in proportion to the romantic nature of Link’s gestures. “Heh. I hope that’s better than the wine we made back in the day.”

“Hey, we thought it was pretty good at the time.”

“More like too stubborn to admit how bad it was.”

“Well, isn’t that the whole point? That we believed in it. Fake it till we make it! I was actually thinking of that little wine-making experiment when I picked this wine. That was made with fruit, and so is this one. Check it out.”

Rhett read the label out loud. “ _ Peach For the Stars _ .”

Link filled their cups. They took a few sips, and a few bites before lying back onto the blanket and looking at the stars together. 

“This feels like a movie,” Rhett mused, the light peach flavor of the wine lingering on his breath. “You’ve always been real good with stuff like this. Creating moments. Like, making a whole Feeling or Mood with very specific details and choices. You would have been a great set designer, writer, director or... something.”

There was a tightness in Rhett’s chest, as his sincere compliments and gratitude for Link’s cinematic eye had led him to a question he wasn’t sure he was ready to ask. But he supposed the answer wouldn’t change anything for the worse. He already felt guilt, and assumed that Link resented him for not going to film school with him like they always said they would as kids. So if Link confirmed it, nothing would change. If he was able to convince Rhett that wasn’t the case, then maybe he’d walk away from this perfect scene that Link had set feeling a whole lot lighter. 

“Why didn’t you go to film school? You would've done so good there. Why… why did you let go of that dream?”

Link smiled, and then lifted his eyes from his glass of wine. They seemed to glow, their natural blues dialed up as they reflected the brilliant glow of starlight. He shook his head. “You still don’t quite get it. Do ya, Rhett?”

“What do you mean?” Rhett mumbled. His heart began to beat faster, in anticipation of the confirmation of something that he had always suspected, in the deepest corners of his mind where his hidden hopes dared to reside. 

“Going to film school would have meant us going to different schools,” Link said, matter-of-factly. “And I know it’s only four years and all. And it does go by fast, just like people say. Letting go of film school was easy. But you? I’m never letting you go. Not for any length of time. No matter how quickly it flies by.”

Emboldened by his Link’s raw admission, Rhett reached down to take Link’s hand. “Well, I’m not going to let you let go of your dream either. I’m not my father. I’m not gonna make you choose. You can have it all. We can have it all together.”

Link raised his wine glass with his free hand, and touched it to Rhett’s glass and said, “To having it all.”

Rhett nodded and took a sip of his peach wine. When Link lowered his glass from his lips, Rhett lowered his lips to touch them. They paused there for a moment before parting. 

Rhett echoed Link’s toast in a soft whisper, “To having it all.”


	33. Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: handjobs

Rhett was driving Link home from a team building exercise with the crew. It had taken the form of a game night over at Stevie and Cassie’s, and tonight’s game had been Cards Against Humanity. 

“I’m not even mad that I lost,” Link complained. “I’m just annoyed that you won so easily. You even drive smugly.”

“Who woulda guessed it? ‘A sad handjob’ for the win!” Rhett cackled at his own cleverness.

“What’s ‘a sad handjob’ anyway? Isn't that like ‘bad pizza’? No such thing, just be glad you’re getting... pizza?”

Rhett snorted. “I don’t know what kind of handjobs you’ve gotten, but there’s definitely opportunities for it to go bad!”

Rhett paused for Link to laugh or add commentary to his premise, but Link remained silent. 

“Are you, uh.. Playing a highlight reel in your mind of all the crappy handies you’ve gotten?”

That got a chuckle out of Link.

“It’d be a real short compilation!”

Rhett laughed, but the laughter faded as something occurred to him. “How short?”

“Um. Non-existent?”

Rhett’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never…?!”

“Are you really that surprised? I was so freakin repressed back in high school, I didn’t dare do anything.. like that. And by the time I actually.. Let that kinda stuff happen.. I was in my early 20s! People were kinda over handjobs. Seemed silly once there were other activities on the menu.”

“‘Over’ handjobs? That’s a dang shame, man. They’re super underrated! I can’t believe you just skipped right over that ‘base’! You of all people, who does everything systematically in order?”

They sat for a moment in silence: Rhett in disbelief, Link in mild embarrassment.

Rhett broke the silence. “You, uh.. wanna try it?”

Link’s eyes went wide. 

“C’mon… it’s a quintessential experience!”

“It’s not like I don’t know what it feels like! I give myself a handjob every—“ Link paused, and thought before proceeding. “...every so often.”

“It’s not the same!”

“It’s fine, man. Don’t make it weird.”

Rhett didn’t press him. But after a moment Link asked, “You’d really do that?”

“What?”

Link looked down toward his crotch, then brought his eyes back to meet Rhett’s. “Jerk me off? That wouldn’t strike you as... odd?”

Rhett laughed, hoping he was coming off as nonchalantly as he’d intended. “It’s like you said: I also give a handjob to a dude regularly. Myself. We’ve always described each other as an extension of the other person. That’s why we don’t do elaborate hellos or goodbyes. It’d be just like greeting yourself. I feel like this would also be just like… greeting myself?” 

“Well, which is it, Rhett? If it’s just like masturbating, I’ve done that! If this is some ‘quintessential experience’, then I guess it is kind of a big deal, ain’t it?”

“It’s a big deal for you to have it done, it ain’t a big deal for me to be the one doing it..” Rhett knew his logic was flawed. His voice was dropping too deep for this to be no big deal to him. But in that car, at that moment, there was nothing he wanted more. “C’mon, Link. Undo your pants. Go ahead and take your dick out for me?”

Link’s hands hovered over his zipper before he committed to unzipping and pulling his pants and briefs down to his hips. He was already half hard from just discussing this. Seeing Link in this semi-aroused state had Rhett shifting subtly in his seat, adjusting to the increasing tightness in his own jeans. 

Rhett wrapped a large hand around Link’s cock and felt the way it stiffened at his touch. 

Link was breathing quickly, trying not to moan and whimper too much too soon. But it was obvious. He liked it. 

“Relax, Link,” Rhett said in a low whisper. “It’s just me.”

Link did visibly relax his body into his seat, and his legs parts slightly, as much as they could, still trapped in his pants. 

Rhett grew familiar with the feel of him. The warmth and weight, the way his hips rose up to thrust lightly into Rhett’s grip. He grew attuned to the small noises and sharp intakes of breath that let him know what Link liked. 

Around the time that Link’s rhythm of deep breaths broke and shuddered, Rhett could feel the need for release in how full his hand had become around Link’s hot engorged cock. How slick the precome felt when he’d tease his fingers over it. 

“Better’n just jerkin off?” Rhett asked as Link bucked his hips more, catching up quickly to the orgasm he was chasing. 

“God. Much!” Link gasped for air like a man trying to keep his head above water, but just about at peace with collapsing under the crashing waves. “Please, Rhett..” He whined. “Don’t tease. I need to-“

Rhett was more than a little hot and bothered when he leaned over to kiss Link’s plump and parted lips. “I know what you need,” his voice hoarsely ghosted over Link’s mouth, and he felt the warm wet release run over his hand when their lips touched.

Rhett kept their lips crushed together, pinning Link’s head against the headrest as he stroked Link through his orgasm, feeling Link’s hot breaths as he moaned into Rhett’s mouth and was left breathless and sweating. 

Rhett eased off the kiss and quickly muttered an apology. 

“I’m sorry I got carried away with the… kissing. I know that wasn’t what we were talking about when I suggested you let me…”

Link tucked himself back into his pants, and rummaged through Rhett’s glove compartment to find him some tissues for Rhett’s hand. “‘Handjobs’ fall under the umbrella category of ‘Things I Was Too Repressed to Do in High School’. Kissing you also falls under that category.”

Rhett couldn’t suppress his smile, hearing this kind of confession from Link. 

Link’s eyes conspicuously locked on the bulge confined within Rhett’s jeans. “I also never gave a blowjob in high school. Would you say that’s a… ‘quintessential experience’?”


	34. "Don't be afraid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: college rhink, pining Link, bathroom sex, handjobs

Link knocked over the popcorn as he got up from the futon to leave the room. He was glad that the lights were dimmed and no one would be able to see his embarrassment as he headed for the kitchen. Anything for a break from the slasher film that his college buddies thought was a good way to kick off the first weekend in October. 

He gripped the counter at the edge of the sink staring blankly until he was startled by a voice. 

“You all right?”

“Sure, Rhett. Great.” Link laid the sarcasm on thick. “Love a good horror flick.”

Rhett’s face was unreadable, but he seemed a combination of confused, disappointmented, and possibly annoyed. 

“You knew we were watching scary movies. You didn’t have to come. You coulda made up some story about having to study or whatever.”

“I…” Link began, as if being scared at a movie at his age wasn’t awkward enough. Now did he have to confess to his lifelong best friend that no movie could make him as uncomfortable as the thought of spending a night apart? 

The way Rhett was looking at him made Link suspect that Rhett already knew. 

“You don’t have to be scared, Link.”

Link turned around to face Rhett. “I’m fine now, I just needed to get away for a second.”

“No. Not that.” Rhett moved closer to Link. 

Link wondered if Rhett might take his hand. Something in the way the air between them tingled made Link suspect that he might. 

“I meant, don’t be scared to tell me the real reason that you came with me to something that you knew you weren’t likely gonna enjoy.”

Link could feel Rhett’s hot breath warming his skin, his lips were so close, he could just tilt his head back if he had the courage.

“Don’t be afraid.” Rhett’s whisper was so low that Link could barely hear it, though its power vibrated through his entire being. 

Link braced himself by pressing a palm against the counter behind him, and leaned up to close the short distance between them and feel the soft silk of Rhett’s lips against his. 

Link took a breath, and Rhett took the parting of his lips as an invitation, which took Link further by surprise. 

Rhett instantly retracted his tongue. “I’m sorry. I shoulda asked.”

“Yeah,” Link said breathlessly. “You shoulda. But I woulda said yes.” He pulled Rhett back in to kiss him deeply. Rhett’s arms roamed down his arms to squeeze his hips. 

Link rolled his hips forward to rub his tented jeans lightly against Rhett’s thigh. Rhett’s hand lowered to replace his knee as the source of friction for Link’s crotch. 

“Nnnn… not here,” Link husked. Each word betrayed everything he so desperately wanted, but was not willing to risk in their friends’ kitchen right next to a room full of people that might not understand. 

“Bathroom?” Rhett offered, ever determined.

“Together? Won’t that be—“

Rhett pressed his palm against the bulge straining in Link’s jeans, and Link moaned into Rhett’s chest. He tentatively reached to touch Rhett the way that Rhett was touching him. When he found Rhett to be just as turned on, his brain short circuited and he didn’t care about anything aside from removing the layers of fabric that were obstructing their touches. 

They stumbled into the half-bathroom just off of the kitchen. Link’s trembling fingers fumbled at Rhett’s zipper, drawing his cock out of his pants. 

Link closed his hand around Rhett’s girth and savored the small whimper that his touch elicited. 

There wasn’t room to turn around in the small bathroom, considering Rhett’s size, and Link was beginning to sweat, all hot and bothered pressed up against the closed door; Rhett’s dick in his hand. 

Link gasped as Rhett peeled Link’s jeans down to his thighs and began to stroke Link’s needy cock. Link knew he couldn’t be loud, but gosh! He wanted Rhett to know how good he was making him feel…

He moved his hand up and down Rhett’s length before adjusting his grip around his head to focus his touches around the sensitive tip. 

“I love how you feel in my hand…” Link murmured, hoping his volume was okay, and that his voice wouldn’t break as his knees threatened to buckle as Rhett began to move his arm with more intensity. 

Link felt Rhett’s heavy breaths as warm bursts against the top of his head. And Link could just make out little grunts and squeaks that let him know that Rhett was struggling just as much as Link was to contain the sounds of his pleasure.

Link felt Rhett’s hips thrusting and could imagine the power in them that he was having to restrain. As they stroked each other Link imagined what it would be like to feel Rhett thrusting into his mouth and what his skin might taste like, or how it would feel to actually have Rhett moving inside of him. 

Link’s brain buzzed and he grew light headed as Rhett picked up his skillful pace and drove Link right over the edge. He was just about to come when he heard Rhett quietly announcing the same thing. 

They both cupped their hands to catch each other’s hot release and not irrevocably mess up one another’s clothes for the evening. 

Link’s racing heart nearly leapt from his chest when there was a knock at the door. 

“Yeah!?” Rhett cried out, indicating for Link to stay shushed. 

“Rhett? You seen Link?”

“I think he went out for air. Hey, uh. I’m gonna be a minute. Those wings didn’t agree with me.”

Link was wide-eyed, feeling caught even as Rhett cleverly covered for them. It was thrilling...

They washed up and to Link’s relief, Rhett kissed him again. 

“This ain’t the end. We’re gonna… talk more about this,” Rhett assured him. “But for now, wait five minutes, and then come back to the living room. I’ll cover your eyes for the scary parts.”


	35. Blink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: mirror sex, dirty talk, power exchange - Dom Link / sub Rhett

It seemed to Link that every time he looked to his right, Rhett was looking at himself on the monitor. Tucking a stray chunk of hair behind his ear, turning his head to the side to see how his wavy tendrils were laying, or doing his hair flippy... thingy. Link thought he might pull a muscle in his eye from rolling them in response to Rhett’s obsessive self-ogling. 

Toward the end of the day, Rhett finally noticed Link’s irritation. 

“What? Like you don’t fix your hair in the monitor?”

In an uncharacteristic display of restraint Link held his tongue. Saying only, “Keep gawking at yourself, big man. Wait until we get home, and I’ll give you something to look at.”

A twinkle of excitement gleamed in Rhett’s eye as he nodded his acknowledgment. They both began counting down until they got home. 

They were on fire for one another by the time they got to their bedroom. Link excited by what he had dreamed up for them; Rhett excited by the  _ not _ knowing. 

“Get naked for me, Rhett.”

Rhett’s eyes grew wide at the commanding tone in Link’s voice. 

“I’m gonna be right back,” Link told him. “And when I am, there better not be a stitch of clothing on you, or we’re done here.”

“You serious?”

“Serious as a heart attack.”

Rhett began unbuttoning his shirt as Link exited the room. 

Link returned after a few minutes, awkwardly carrying a full length mirror. Link propped the mirror against the door before turning to assess Rhett’s state of undress. 

“You look good, Rhett. Though, I guess you know that. Seeing as how you can’t take your eyes off yourself at work all day.”

“I—“

“That’s okay, Rhett,” Link pulled his shirt off and unbuckled his belt. “ I’m gonna have you look at yourself some more, since you like it so much. Want you to watch yourself while I’m spanking your ass with my hips. Don’t take your eyes off yourself. Don’t even blink.”

Link moved to position himself behind Rhett, a firm hand settled onto Rhett’s shoulder guiding him to his knees. Rhett instinctively rested his head on his forearms, panting with anticipation - and at the sight of his reflection.

Rhett subtly averted his eyes from the reddish flush spread from his face to his chest, as Link began moving against Rhett’s backside; letting Rhett feel the slickness of the lube pressing against him. Link’s grip tightened on Rhett’s shoulder as he pressed harder.

Link smiled as his darkened eyes met Rhett’s in the mirror. Rhett began to babble and mumble as Link pushed forward. Rhett wiggled his hips back against him, and spread his legs apart wider to let Link in. 

“That’s right, Rhett. You want me inside you. You wanna get an eyeful of yourself getting filled with my cock.”

Rhett couldn’t speak, but he nodded emphatically as Link felt himself sliding inside of Rhett; going slowly at first, letting Rhett get used to him. 

Then Link launched his hips forward. Rhett grunted deep in his throat as his body reacted to the sudden movement. Link’s fingers gripped Rhett’s soft, freckled flesh as Link adjusted and positioned the angles of his strokes. 

Rhett’s moans matched the pace of Links hips, and Rhett reached one hand back to try to grab the lean cord of Link’s thigh, or his knee - anything for extra contact. But the sweat made Rhett’s grip slide, and Link yanked Rhett’s head back in the direction of the mirror as Link spoke in a low, rough voice, cradling Rhett’s bearded chin in his firm grip. 

“Watch how much you love getting your ass fucked. See how nice you look taking my cock.”

Rhett lifted his eyes, watching his face contort in joy and pain as Link’s hips bounced off his backside

“So good, Link,” Rhett mumbled, feeling himself drooling. “So fucking good…”

The sight of himself only turned him on further. 

“Yeah, Rhett. You are good. You’re so hot like this, and you fuckin’ love it, don’t ya? You love looking at yourself like this?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I do.” Rhett leaned into his elbows, his forehead moved to rest against the mirror. He didn’t dare stop looking, nor did he have any desire to stop watching Link fucking him harder and faster. Rhett pushed back onto him as he panted his breaths.

“You gonna come, Rhett?”

“Yeah,” Rhett grunted. “Getting close.”

“Good. I wanna see. Look yourself in the eye when I make you come.”

Link leaned over to touch Rhett’s cock, hanging swollen and heavy, bouncing beneath his belly. Rhett met his own eyes, watching his jaw drop as Link began to jerk him off. Grasping and pumping, his strokes combining with his thrusts in a near overwhelming concerted motion. Link squeezed and twisted along Rhett’s cock, his thumb moving repeatedly over his leaking tip. 

“Oh, Link…” Rhett moaned. “Fuck, I’m gonna-“

“Me too, Rhett. Wanna come in your ass. Watch me as I fill you up.”

Rhett did his best to do as Link said, though his eyes threatened to slide shut and roll upward with how good Link made him feel.

They moved faster and faster together, their bodies on edge, beginning to tremble. 

Finally, Link buried his dick inside of Rhett, rocking himself back and forth as his hand continued its sensual movements over Rhett’s cock until Rhett cried out with his release. His eyes went wide as he kept his gaze locked on himself as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through his body as he came all over Link’s hand and their bedroom floor. 

When they both felt they’d drawn all the pleasure from the moment, Link withdrew slowly, and crudely wiped them both clean with his discarded shirt before helping an unsteady Rhett to his feet, and kissing him softly. Happy to have found a way to let Rhett indulge his desire to gawk at himself, while also getting more than a little bit of Rhett’s…. attention.


	36. Glasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: blow jobs, improper care of eyeglasses

Link slumped into the chair at Rhett’s dining room table. He and Rhett had just gotten in from grabbing some takeout for their Thursday night creative session. They’d begun this tradition of having an evening to themselves to brainstorm ideas for the documentary they’d started working on, researching how exactly ‘YouTube’ worked, and if it was a financially viable way to make money. On top of their day jobs, it was a lot of work. Some nights it was exhilarating, like they were on the verge of fulfilling the promise they’d made to each other to do something big together. And then there were nights like tonight where Link was so tired out and stretched thin that he didn’t feel like he had a creative muscle in his body to flex. 

Rhett was quiet, which made Link feel bad. He didn’t like making people feel like they had to walk on eggshells around his bad moods. Least of all Rhett.... 

He took a deep breath. He self-consciously pushed his new glasses up his nose, and grit his teeth in frustration as he pulled the chicken sandwich from the grease-stained paper bag. He brought the sandwich up to his mouth, and then set it down more forcefully than was necessary before flinging his glasses off and across the kitchen table. 

Rhett reflexively reached a hand out and easily caught the glasses before they completely skidded off the table to land on the tiled floor. 

“Think ya dropped somethin’, buddyroll…”

“Thanks, smart ass.”

“What’s up, man? You’re all outta sorts.” 

“I can’t… eat with these dang things on! I’m just not used to ‘em.”

“Your glasses? What’s that got to do with your mouth?”

“You don’t understand, because you don’t have to wear these dweeby things. But it’s like… it feels like a whole face shield. I can’t wear ‘em when I eat… or when I kiss….” 

Link bit his ton and he felt a blush creep over his cheeks. He and Rhett didn’t really talk about stuff like that. Rhett’s eyes had gone wide with mock surprise, and a playful grin spread across his face. 

“Aww, you havin’ trouble kissin’? Need some help practicing?”

If Link was blushing before, his face was absolutely on fire now. But he’d be damned if he was gonna let Rhett make him feel uncomfortable. Two could play at that game.

“Don’t be writing checks that those lips can’t cash, McLaughlin.”

“You got no idea how deep the pockets of these lips are lined.” Rhett licked his lips seductively.

Link could feel himself swelling in his pants, but he simply rolled his eyes. “I think the metaphor is going off the rails a little bit…”

“Then how ‘bout we drop it? Kiss me, Link.”

Link swallowed. “What? Are you serious?” 

“Why not? Lemme build your confidence.”

Everything inside of Link was on high alert, guarding against some kind of test or trick. But Rhett’s voice was sincere, and the way he was looking at him was so soft. Link’s eyes darted quickly to his lips and away.. they also looked very soft… and warm. 

Rhett walked over to where Link was seated. He helped Link to stand, and slid his glasses back onto his face. Rhett’s fingers lingered at Link’s ears and slowly traced down Link’s jawline. 

When Rhett’s lips connected with his, Link wasn’t thinking about his glasses. Link realized this kiss was unlike any he’d ever shared with anyone else. Not only was he not thinking about his glasses, he wasn’t thinking about anything aside from the kiss. The moment. He was fully present. 

After a few minutes, Link’s heart was hammering inside his chest and he was rock hard in his jeans. He pressed himself against Rhett’s leg, wanting him to know it. 

“Feelin confident, Neal?” Rhett teased softly. 

“Definitely feelin something.” 

“Your glasses look good on you, y’know?”

“I look like a freakin dork,” Link murmured against Rhett’s lips. 

“You look incredibly sexy.”

“And we’re talkin about being in front of a camera and stuff. Man… it’s just not the look I envisioned for myself.”

“It’s gonna be an iconic look.”

Link found himself smiling at Rhett’s compliments. His confidence was growing in spite of himself. 

He noticed something of Rhett’s was growing as well, and on a whim he slid down Rhett’s body and onto his knees. 

“Link, what’re you—”

“Thought you said I was sexy?”

“You are, but.. you don’t have to…”

Rhett inhaled sharply as Link pressed against his package, and opened Rhett’s zipper to slide Rhett’s drawers down until his hard and heavy cock sprang forward. 

Link wrapped his lips around Rhett’s girth and comfortably closed his eyes behind his glasses as he felt Rhett’s warm thickness slide along his tongue and knock against the roof of his mouth. Link suppressed his gag reflex and began to bob his head, feeling his throat take Rhett deeper and deeper. He began to choke and sputter and his glasses slipped down his nose. Link ignored them and continued to move his lips up and down Rhett’s shaft. 

Rhett’s fingers reached down to push his glasses up, and Link hummed his appreciation. 

When Rhett was close he affectionately tapped at Link’s cheek, breaths broken, barely able to form words. “I’m gonna… I’m close, bo… gonna. Gonna come!”

Link pulled off and a string of drool hung between his bottom lip and the tip of Rhett’s cock as it erupted in pleasure, coating Link’s bespectacled face with warm streaks of jizz. 

“Goodness, Link,” Rhett heaved as he tried to catch his breath. 

Link looked up at him from down on his knees, having to look over his frames, unable to see clearly through the mess on his lenses. 

Rhett rubbed his thumb over Link’s plump bottom lip, wiping it clean and humming happily. “Now this is an iconic look… Maybe a little too hot for tv?”

Link beamed. “I think I’ll be able to get used to… eating with glasses.”


	37. “You Could Have Warned Me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: sex toys, hotel sex

Rhett and Link had agreed to buy and wear tuxes for the Golden Globes afterparty that they’d been invited to. There had been some back and forth over whether a tux was too formal considering they weren’t attending the award ceremony itself. Rhett had suggested that if they wore the tuxes, but not the bow ties, they might be able to sell that they weren’t taking themselves too seriously; clearly there would be people there that knew they hadn’t attended the main event. And they didn’t wanna come off as trying too hard. Link had thought that if you were gonna do a thing, you do it right. If you’re gonna go all out and buy a tux, you wear the bow tie . There was a debate. A decision was made. They retired to their rooms to dress and agreed to meet at the hotel bar when they were ready. They both felt nervous, and out of their depths, and agreed that a cocktail before the party would help them manage their imposter syndrome-induced anxieties.

Link looked at himself in the mirror. He had to admit, he liked what he saw. The tux fit him like a glove. It damn well better at the price he’d paid. And he found he didn’t miss the bow tie . Not really. Yes, bow ties were classic, but Rhett and Link weren’t ‘classic’ kinda guys. They were _ internetainers _. Modern. They could pull off a casual take on a tux. He’d have to hear an “I told ya so!” from Rhett, but he would have to hand it to him that this was a sharp, cool look for them. 

He was made of confidence as he took the elevator down to the barroom; then utterly deflated when he saw Rhett sittin’ pretty at the bar wearing a bow tie! 

“Man, we agreed! What the crap?! Now I look like a schlub Are you _ tryin _ to make me look stupid?”

“Relax! I thought we said we were doing the bow ties! You clearly seem more secure with it than without it. Gimme your key card. I’ll grab your bow tie for ya while you try to unwind with the drink I ordered for you. _ You’re welcome _, by the way.”

Link thought about going back to his room his damn self out of spite. But this friction between them wasn’t good for anything. So he accepted the gesture and handed over his key card. 

A few minutes passed and Link was starting to relax when he got a text from Rhett insisting he get back up to his room. 

Link was confused for a second, and then in a brand new and full-on panic as he raced to his room, realizing what had just happened. 

“You know, when you sent me up to rifle through your suitcase, you could have warned me!”

“I didn't _ send you up to—“ _

“Just a little clue maybe? Like, ‘Sure, go ahead, Rhett. Just mind the huge dildo in my luggage!’”

Link covered his face, mortified. 

“What’re you doin’ with this thing anyway?” Rhett muttered.

“What do you think, man?!”

Rhett rolled his eyes, “I know, but… if you wanted somethin _ like this _…”

“Oh gosh, I’m not ready for this.”

“What do you think you might be ready for?”

Link’s face burned with a combination of embarrassment and desire. He could believe Rhett was offering to… Well, he wasn’t exactly sure _ what _ he was offering, but Link couldn’t believe any of it! 

“I think I could unwind you better than a drink. Would you let me use this on you. I mean, _ with _ you, or…”

“Okay,” Link quickly agreed before he could think better of it. “Get me naked then.”

Rhett carefully peeled Link out of his dress clothes, complimenting how snugly the material hugged his body as he gradually exposed every inch of Link’s skin while remaining fully dressed himself, complete with a bow tie. There was something about the imbalance of their attire that was driving Link crazy. 

Link allowed Rhett to lay him out on the bed and delighted at the way that Rhett’s eyes shamelessly devoured him. Link might have been the one literally laid bare and spread open and vulnerable, but in his own way Rhett was just as exposed and weak. 

“I’ve never done anything like this,” Rhett admitted. 

“There’s lube in the suitcase too. If you didn’t snoop far enough to notice.”

Rhett barked out a laugh before Link continued. 

“Use a lot of it, and go slow.” Link grinned mischievously. “To begin with anyway.”

Rhett followed Link’s brief instructions, making Link when he touched slick fingers to Link’s hole. Link’s breath hitched and he froze for a moment before settling down around Rhett’s long thick fingers. Not bothering to suppress his moans. It felt good, no point denying that. And he hoped the flattering feedback would build Rhett’s confidence to make sure he fucked him real good momentarily. 

Reading Link’s body more than his mind, Rhett touched the toy to Link’s lips and encouraged him to wet it with his lips before he lubed it up and slowly slid it past the tight muscle of Link’s ass. Link relaxed around Rhett’s gentle pressure, spreading himself wide and letting Rhett reach deep inside him. He was regretting telling Rhett he wasn’t ready for Rhett’s actual cock. 

_ Next time,_ Link thought. _ There has to be a next time! _

Link moaned and whined and sighed as Rhett fucked him with his toy. 

“Can I touch myself? Is that too…? I dunno…”

“Lemme see you come.”

“Nnnngh,” Link grunted before wrapping his hand around his swollen cock and pumping in time with Rhett’s thrusts until he was spilling over his own fist as he begged Rhett to keep fucking him…

As predicted, Link felt more relaxed than any drink or drug could have rendered him. Suddenly, he had no opinions on bow ties with tuxedos. 

But Rhett had them both wear them, as Link had originally wanted. 


	38. “What are you doing?” (Smutty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by The Hiking Conversation in gmm 1843. 
> 
> **Chapter Tags**: Top Link, Bottom Rhett.

“What?” Rhett finally asked after Link had been quiet for too long during their late night at the office. “You just gonna sit shaking your head with that smirk on your face?”

“You’re just so full of shit, man.” Link’s words were all amusement and no malice. 

“How so? You know you gotta be more specific than that!”

Link snort-laughed at Rhett’s self-deprecating humor. 

“Your little joke about either one of us being the top or bottom in this relationship?”

“I wasn’t kidding!” Rhett reached over to take Link’s hand, pulling him close; pinning himself between Link and his desk. 

Link looked at him skeptically. “You don’t really believe that.”

“Just ‘cause since we started, uh…” Rhett caressed the back of Link’s hand with his thumb. “...redefining our relationship, it’s consistently been one way. That don’t mean it can’t be another way.”

“Really? You’d let me—” Link cleared his throat and tried again. “You’d wanna…  _ bottom _ for me, Rhett?”

Rhett worked his hands between them to unbuckle his belt, and began sliding his pants down. 

“Whoa, whoa. What are you doing?”

Rhett smiled. “You don’t believe me? I’m provin’ it.”

“You don’t have to—“

“I want it, Link.” The look in Rhett’s eye was unquestionably sincere. He kissed Link softly on lips that had fallen open with surprise. “You don’t think I’d want you to fuck me? Link, you’re good at whatever you put your mind to. And you don’t half-ass a thing. I bet you got an efficient system to get people off. I bet you yourself get off on the feeling of control it gives you. I bet you’re even stronger than you look with the adrenaline running through you. Link… I got no complaints about what we been doin’. But I would  _ love _ to know what it’d be like to have it the other way around.”

Link’s heart hammered in his chest. He helped Rhett step the rest of the way out of his pants before guiding him to bend over his desk. Rhett pulled his shirt over his head and stripped it off. 

Link bent his clothed body over Rhett’s naked one, draping himself to cover him as best he could with his smaller frame. 

“You wouldn’t drop your drawers for me knowing there ain’t no lube in this office?” Link husked against Rhett’s shoulders.

“Middle drawer. All the way in the back.”

Link fished it out and tucked the small bottle into his pants pocket to warm up. He ran his hands down Rhett’s endlessly long body, admiring his pink and freckled skin, kneading his thumbs into the meat on his hips before kissing his way down Rhett’s back. Link massaged Rhett’s ass before spreading him and making him twitch with a kiss and flicker of his tongue. 

Rhett uttered some nervous grunts and whispers, but said that he was okay, and reiterated that he was more than okay when Link verbally checked in on him. 

Link toyed with Rhett, letting his fingers run through the trails of his saliva. Rhett’s whines became more articulate and needy.

“I thought you trusted my efficient system?” Link said with a smile. “Besides, I’m not teasing. I’m gonna give you everything you need. But not until you’re ready and… eager.”

From his position behind Rhett, Link wasn’t able to kiss him the way he wanted to, and settled for soft bites and nibbles at Rhett’s backside and all along his back. The wet touches soothed Rhett, as well. 

“Just don’t get yerself so ready that you bust the second you—“ Rhett’s playful taunt was cut short as Link unzipped his pants and pressed the head of his cock against Rhett’s hole. 

“Don’t worry about me, Rhett. Just… enjoy.” Link punctuated his confident suggestion with slow pressure. He held his breath as he carefully pushed past the taut yet pliant muscle to slip his tip inside Rhett’s hot ass. 

“Ffffuuuu…” Link softly groaned. Rhett felt incredible, and Link didn’t mind telling him so. 

Rhett shifted his hips against the desk, and propped himself up more steadily against it on his elbows. “Keep goin’.”

Link nodded, though Rhett couldn’t see him from his position. Link thought about mock-chastising Rhett again for trying to rush him or control his pace; after all, playfulness had been a big part of they sex play - it was a familiar dynamic and easy to incorporate. On the other hand, when you have a big gorgeous man under you, begging for more of your cock… sometimes the simplest thing to do is just give it to him. 

Link slid himself in gradually, milking every ounce of pleasure from Rhett’s body. Savoring the whines and moans and praises. 

“You’re killing me with this slow pace. It’s good. You’re really fucking good, honey. But I think I’m gonna lose my mind if you don’t… like,  _ fuck  _ me.”

Link chuckled lightly. “I love to see you lose your mind. And fall apart for me.”

“Link, please!”

“Shh!” Link snapped his hips roughly and Rhett cried out and whined for another. 

Link bucked his hips again, listening to the way Rhett’s body rocked against the desk, the loose items inside rattling with the force of his body shaking them. 

“I’m gonna give you what you want. Not gonna make you beg.”

“You love to hear it though, don’t you?” Rhett turned his head with a smile, and Link returned it… affection undeniable as he reached a strong arm forward to gently lower Rhett’s head down and forward before losing himself in his pistoning thrusts. Driving both their pleasures until the only intelligible thing spilling from Rhett’s lips was Link’s name. Until Link filled Rhett with his warm seed. 

“Fuck, Link…” Rhett sighed as they composed themselves. “I mean, yeah. I think that seals it, either one of us could be top or bottom.”

Link dabbed the sweat from his temples and fixed his hair as he said with a wink, “I think I even believe you on that one now.”


	39. “What are you doing?” (Angsty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ Filling in for an _Angsty Version_ this week. 
> 
> **Chapter Tags**: high school rhink, underaged drinking, relationship tension

Rhett did _ not _ look amused when he picked Link up from the party to give him a ride home from the high school party.

Link didn’t give a crap what Rhett thought. A lot of that had to do with how drunk he was. And a lot of how drunk he was had to do with the fact that he had wanted Rhett to come to the party with him. And he hadn’t asked Rhett to come get him! 

But somebody had asked for Rhett to come pick him up. Which, again, had to do with how drunk Link was.

Link slid into the passenger seat without saying a word. His body felt like a limp noodle, but he tried to project something a little more solid. 

“So?” Rhett said, as if that was how you greeted a person.

“So _ what_?”

“So, this is who you are now?”

Link turned to Rhett in disbelief. Was he really going to guilt trip him now? After he had led him on for weeks about going to the party together. Getting drunk together. Seeing where the night would take them… Link had presumed: together. Link would’ve bet money that Rhett had been doing was flirting. And Link had matched that energy at every turn, only to have the rug yanked out from under him at the last minute when Rhett suddenly wasn’t going. 

No explanation. 

No apology. 

Simply, not going. 

Link had been angry, and hurt. Had Rhett gotten cold feet about what was developing between them? Had Link been mistaken in thinking that it was a big deal - had there, in fact, not been anything developing between them? Either way, it sucked!

And now Rhett wanted to make Link feel even worse? For what? The drinking? The flirting? Maybe for how Link had… tempted Rhett. (Into potentially drinking, and flirting.) 

Link’s head swam with cheap whiskey and circular reasoning. He felt nauseous.

“What if it is?” Link slurred. 

“What?”

“What if this is who I am? Do you… does that bother you?”

“That you... drink now?”

“Gee, Rhett. What else could I be talking about?”

Link smirked knowingly as he watched a blush creep up Rhett’s neck, visible even in the dimly lit vehicle. 

Rhett wasn’t just thinking about Link drinking. 

“Are you really upset about me being a… a _ drinker_?”

Rhett was grinding his teeth now. 

“...or maybe you’re just mad, because you chickened out of being my _ drinking buddy_.”

Link’s lazy attempt to make air quotes was thwarted as Rhett abruptly pulled over. 

“Out.”

“Rhett! What are you—?”

“_ Out_!”

“Huh?” Link clumsily climbed out and stood stunned on the side of the road. Rhett began to drive away, and Link called after him. “Hey! Wait! What are you doing?”

Link felt like he’d had the wind knocked from out of him. He doubled over with the ache of the emptiness he felt as he watched Rhett’s red tail lights getting smaller and smaller. Was Rhett disgusted by him? Was he afraid of him? Considering that all that week, right up until earlier that evening, Link had been half-convinced Rhett just might be _ in love _ with him… The contrast was too sharp. It stung. Rhett had bailed on him earlier that night, and now he had literally abandoned him… Link didn’t have the mental energy reserved to consider how the heck he was gonna walk home from there. 

Link roughly scrubbed the tears from his bleary eyes with the heels of his palms as he saw headlights coming over the hill. His heart leapt with the hope that it might be Rhett, while his stomach dropped at the possibility of it being anybody else under these circumstances. 

Link was cautiously optimistic as he confirmed that the vehicle was indeed Rhett’s. The passenger door flew open and Link tried to keep his face neutral as he demanded to know:

“What the crap, Rhett?”

“Just get in, man. Before I lose my nerve… again.”

Link’s demeanor softened, as he recognized the implied apology in Rhett’s tone. 

“Rhett… I—“

“No,” Rhett insisted. “Please, lemme go first.” Rhett took a deep breath. “I’m sorry that I didn’t go with you tonight. I’m really struggling, man.”

Link wasn’t sure he was processing Rhett’s words accurately, despite recent events having sobered him up a fair amount. He felt compelled to hold Rhett’s hand; comfort him. But he held back. 

“Can we talk about… drinking?” Rhett asked, injecting some heavy significance into his words. 

Link nodded, and mentally noted that they were _ not _ talking about drinking. 

“We’ve always been cautioned against drinking. And the… well, how complicated things can get. Consequences and all.”

“I feel like it’s complicated to not… try it, if you have a strong enough compulsion to maybe… just experiment with it. Kinda normal at our age?”

“Is it?”

“I think, I think I’ve decided that for me… I don’t feel like I had a choice.”

“It’s a hard line for me to cross,” Rhett admitted. He seemed sad about that. And Link felt sad for him. “But then it did something to me… Realizing you might take that step without me.”

“I never wanted it to be without you. I don’t even think I’d have thought about guys— um, of drinking with the guys. If… I hadn’t thought about… having a drink with you?”

“I’m just scared, Link. The only thing that scares me more than drinking with you, is you doing it without me. What if you get hurt?”

“I… don’t have an answer for that. But it’s not your responsibility.”

“It’s not like that. Well, it’s a part of it, but it’s not the biggest part.”

“What’s the biggest part?” Link asked softly. 

“That when I stop being scared, and start being honest… I do wanna drink.”

“Yeah?” Link subconsciously licked his lips. 

“Maybe just a sip to start?”

Link nodded and they leaned in toward one another to press their lips together, and take the first step toward quenching their thirsts. 


	40. Skin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: college rhink, pornography, mutual masturbation

To say Link had been a little stressed would’ve been an understatement. His mom was visiting him at college for the first time, and he was feeling some pressure. Link was determined to give the impression that he had himself together! Part of that, in Link’s mind, included having their room clean and organized. Rhett, however, was not cooperating; insisting there was no reason for Link to show off for his own mother, who already thought the sun shined out of his butt. 

Link didn’t have the energy to argue, but the second Rhett left for his evening class, Link immediately began cleaning up all the stuff Rhett had deemed unnecessary. 

Within an hour Link had the room looking flawless. Well, near flawless. He knew it would be going too far to wash Rhett’s sheets for him. Not like his mom was gonna sleep over or anything. Certainly not in Rhett’s bunk! And there was no point making Rhett’s bed. He was just gonna get into it that night. But the bed was bothering him. Link couldn’t stand leaving a thing not completely done. So he straightened the sheets and tucked them under the mattress. He was reaching for the last corner when he felt the glossy pages. 

“What the…?”

Link pulled the skin mag out from under the mattress and immediately released his grip, thoughts of sticky pages and hot breathing forcing themselves into his mind. 

But then a half-second later, Link picked the magazine back up. For the same reasons he’d put it down. 

Did Rhett really…  _ ‘ _ interact’ with this stuff? Link idly flipped through the pages, assessing the female form like a mechanic looking under the hood of a car. All parts on display. But there was something cold and calculating about his viewing. And deeper in his subconscious, a seed of anger… almost betrayal. Did Rhett really like this? Is this what got him off? He had never really talked about it. Then again, friends didn’t really talk about—

Link was only reminded that he’d let time slip away from him when Rhett casually returned from class to catch him with the nudie mag in hand. 

“You going through my stuff?!”

“I was just trying to clean up after your slovenly ass! Apparently you’re filthier than I thought…”

Rhett did not match his anger. But calmly sat down next to Link. 

“What do you, uh… think of it?”

Like scoffed. “I didn’t look! …much. So, this what you’re into?”

Rhett chuckled. “It’s just what Cole had stashed in his room.”

Rhett reached over to coolly flip through the pages in Link’s lap. They settled on pages that pictured men with the women. And suddenly Link’s brain was not in such a mechanical mode. Objectively, they were still just parts. But now his cheeks burned and his crotch ached and swelled, noticeably with no underwear and only the material of his sweatpants for modesty. 

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Rhett said in a near-whisper. “That’s the intended effect of this magazine.”

Link didn’t know how to tell him what exactly had him embarrassed. But then it occurred to him, maybe Rhett hadn’t landed on this page by mistake. If Cole’s bedroom was the library Rhett had to choose from, ‘men with women’ was likely as close as he was gonna get if there was a possibility that Rhett, like Link, was interested in looking at men. 

“So this is what you do? Look at these naked...  _ people _ until you feel the intended effect?”

Rhett didn’t correct him. Instead he rubbed at the tent in his pants over his clothes. “That’s not all I do…”

Link swallowed the nerves that formed a lump in his throat as Rhett asked him, in a voice that was low and thick in a way that Link had only heard in dreams, “D’you wanna look at it together? Is it strange to—“

“No!” Link answered quickly, before either of them could change his mind. “Show me what you do… that goes beyond lookin’.”

Rhett undid his pants and lowered them to his knees before sitting at the edge of his bunk. He pulled the elastic of his underwear down his hips to allow his erection to spring out. Link’s mouth watered at how thick and full it was. His breathing was heavy and irregular; if seeing the men in the magazine had taken things up a notch, seeing Rhett’s aroused cock live and in person broke the meter. 

Link sat at the other end of the bed and shimmied his sweatpants down enough to pull his dick out. 

They both began to stroke themselves. Link gained confidence by stealing glances at Rhett’s sure motions. He wasn’t holding back, and that was an incredible turn on. Initially, they both tried to lower their eyes to the magazine. But as they built momentum, the glossy pages were clearly forgotten. Ultimately, their movements had shaken it closer and closer to the edge of the bed until it fell off entirely. 

Neither moved to pick it up. Their eyes were now fixed on one another. Link watched as Rhett’s face flushed and his teeth nibbled at his own lips. Link touched himself more vigorously, imagining nibbling Rhett’s lips for him. He watched the way that Rhett’s hand moved over his thick cock, and found himself subconsciously mirroring his technique. Would that be the way that Rhett would touch him? Would that be the way that Rhett would want Link to touch him?

Unrestrainable sounds began to escape Rhett’s lips, and Link knew he couldn’t last through much more of this. He bit his own tongue as he nearly let Rhett’s name slip from his own. He held out just barely long enough to watch Rhett come first. Link saw it as permission for him to follow his lead. 

As Link tried to steady his breathing and believe that this was all real, an even more unlikely thing happened: Rhett offered to wash his sheets before his mom visited.


	41. “I’m right where I belong.” (Fluffy Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ Genre swap! Here is my fluffy take on this week’s prompt :)
> 
> **Chapter Tags**: high school rhink, skinny dipping

Rhett and Link were not bad kids. Playful, yes; maybe pushing up against mischievous. But they didn’t get up to too much trouble. The one exception to their typical line-toeing was the occasional day skipping school together. 

They agreed it was good for the soul to commune with nature, out in the woods and in the Cape Fear River. Sure, there were weekends, holidays, and entire summer vacations for that type of thing. But it wasn’t their fault those scheduled days off didn’t always align with their yearning for the great outdoors. Or the perfect weather for a hike and a swim. 

In those instances the boys firmly felt they had to take those decisions into their own hands, and take an unapproved ‘personal day’.

Link had been born with an easily provoked guilty conscience, but he never felt a twinge of guilt cutting school to spend the day with Rhett. 

“We ain’t got many summer weather days left this year!” Rhett reminded him. 

As if Link needed convincing! 

Link chased after Rhett through the forest, trying to keep up with his completely unfairly longer strides. By the time they reached the shore Link was out of breath. He grew mildly lightheaded at the thought of him and Rhett like this together: breathing heavy, all sweaty. Under other circumstances, this really woulda been… something! 

“It’s more than a little warm today,” Link whined as he tried to catch his breath. But with the sun filtering through the canopy, and the sound of the midday birdsongs, Link was struggling to find much to complain about - especially when Rhett began stripping out of his clothes. 

Link smiled at his luck: a tall and athletic best friend with a penchant for stripping down to his undies at the slightest provocation. Link reckoned he musta done something right in his past lives. 

“I dunno how you can stand having all them clothes in this heat!” Rhett dramatically cried out as he approached the edge of the bank. 

Link just smirked as he drank the sight of Rhett in. The sweat continued to trickle down his temples, and sting his eyes. When he realized he’d just been staring, Link peeled his shirt off - making a point to wipe some of the sweat from his brow as he did. 

“I’m diving in,” Rhett announced. 

“I was pretty sure that was where this was headed.”

“You joining me, smart ass?”

Link shrugged. “Well, I didn’t come all this way just to gawk at you in your skivvies.” Link was sure that, somewhere out there, a lie detector was going off inexplicably.

Link stripped his clothes off until he was down to his boxers. Then, on a whim, Link dropped his shorts without so much as a significant look or comment in Rhett’s direction. Like he was stepping out of his underwear to get into the shower, alone at home. 

Rhett made a small, tight, startled noise in the back of his throat. 

“What?” Link asked innocently, privately smug at the reaction he’d pulled from Rhett. “I don’t wanna get my clothes wet. You’re gonna think I’m awfully clever when you’re trying to pull your britches up over your wet underwear. Besides, it’s just us out here, right? No big deal.”

“I wasn't worried about people seeing us,” Rhett felt the need to clarify. “I’m just surprised you'd jump in naked without needing any encouragement.”

Link rolled his eyes, and pretended to notnotice his own nakedness. “I’m not that much of a goody two shoes!”

“I wasn’t sayin’ that!”

“And I don’t need your help with every questionable decision I make.” Link was grinning as he approached Rhett. Watching Rhett’s eyes grow wider as Link got closer. “So…” Link reached out to tug at the elastic of Rhett’s briefs, letting it snap back against Rhett’s skin and making him jump back. “You ready to wet your pants, Rhett? Or are you gonna join me in skinny dipping?”

Rhett appeared frozen for a moment. 

“Orrrrr… you just gonna keep your entire self dry on the shore?”

There was a flash of white as Rhett quickly stripped out of his clothes and quickly leaped into the river. Link cackled at the high pitched squeal that pierced the air as Rhett’s naked body hit to cool water. And then Link dove in after him. 

They splashed and swam and refreshed themselves in the cool crystal river water. When they’d had their fill, they lifted their naked bodies out of the water to dry on the rocks under the early afternoon sun. 

Link’s head swam with thoughts. It felt so natural to be out here like this with Rhett. The sounds of the birds and the flowing river, the smells of the woods, the feel of the sunlight warming and drying their skin… Link’s imagination was about to start running wild with thoughts of how to add his sense of taste into the equation when a stray thought intruded and made him sit bolt upright in a panic.

“Don’t you have a basketball game this afternoon?!”

Link’s eyes darted over to Rhett, who continued to look like the definition of relaxed. He must not have understood Link.

“I can drive ya. You’ll barely be late, just—“

“Nah, bo. Just lie back down. I wouldn’t be allowed to play anyway after missing school.”

“Then why did you—“

“Besides, I’m right where I belong.” Rhett extended his open upturned palm toward Link.

Link tried to slow his frantic heartbeat, but he did lie back down. He rested his hand in the hand that Rhett had offered and basked in the warmth that began to fill his insides, as beautifully as the sun warmed his skin. 


	42. “I’m right where I belong.” (Angsty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ Filling in for an Angsty Version this week.
> 
> **Chapter Tags**: questioning Link (religious, sexual/gender/relationship style orientations); comforting and supportive Rhett

Rhett found Link sitting in his car outside of the church - the church where both the families that they’d each made sat together within.

As Rhett approached the car, he could clearly see Link inside. Alone. In pain. It made Rhett’s chest tighten and ache to see him like this. He approached the open window slowly, as if Link were a wild animal that he didn’t want to provoke. More like a wounded animal that he didn’t want to startle. 

Rhett leaned into the open window, getting his face closer to Link’s than most people would have been comfortable with. But this wasn’t ‘most people’. This was Link. 

“D’you want me to drive you home?” Rhett asked. 

Link shook his head. “Nah, man. I think I’m right where I belong.”

“What? In the car?”

“Outside. On the outside. Outside of the sense of community of the church for starters. How can I sit inside when my ‘belief’ is a lie? The people in there would be disgusted if they knew that I didn’t believe what they do. That I been faking my way through prayers and songs for years. Maybe longer. Hell, they might even be as disgusted as I am over some of the bullshit that they believe. Speaking of which, that’s not the only place that I feel  _ other _ or  _ outside of _ : there’s the rigid definitions of sexuality and gender. I’m increasingly feeling further and further outside of that. Which... is pushing me further and further outside of my own family—“

“Link, man… That’s just not true. These aren’t easy waters to navigate. For anyone, under any circumstances. But—“

“On the outside of  _ your _ family.”

Rhett bit his tongue. Instead of countering Link’s point immediately, he walked around Link’s car and let himself into the passenger seat. 

“I can tell by your uncharacteristic silence that  _ that  _ one is true..” Link muttered, picking at a barely perceptible, thin sliver of nail polish that he had failed to remove completely, despite clear efforts to scrub his cuticles until they bled. Rhett imagined Link at home, anxious and earnest. Trying to be kind to himself and let himself explore and enjoy things like nail polish or makeup. He had sent Rhett an occasional picture of himself tastefully modeling shoes or clothes that were traditionally ascribed to women. But Rhett knew he would also be torturing himself inside, not ready to try these gender affirming things in public. Not because of his own ego. Link characteristically couldn’t give two shits if people judged him. But he cared relentlessly for how it would affect Christy. How it would affect his kids. The Mythical brand. Even with their modest level of fame, there wasn’t much private space for Link to occupy. 

Link took a deep breath before raising shiny, tear-filled eyes to meet Rhett’s. “I don’t make things easy on myself, do I, Rhett?”

“It sounds to me like the only thing you’re on the outside of is inauthenticity. And you know what? You  _ do _ belong there. It can’t be easy to embrace each aspect of yourself as you truly are. Especially when doing so impacts other people. And knowing that you cannot control how they are going to react, and if they will accept you in. But, I don’t think there’s an acceptable alternative. You keep pushing this stuff down and it will destroy you, and all of the relationships you’ve built. But if you open up and give people the opportunity to love you, the real you… Either they reject you and you’re back to square one, or… you could experience a truer and freer love than you’ve ever known in 20 years of marriage. In over 35 years of friendship…”

The corners of Link’s lips began to curl into a smile, even as tears began to roll down his cheeks. 

“Inside of authenticity.” Link seemed to mull the words over. “I like that perspective. Thank you, Rhett.”

“And you’re not outside of my family. You are always welcome. And… I’m not taking any possibilities off the table of what that could possibly look like one day. But… it’s gonna take time. And a hell of a lot of communication.” 

They sat in an easy silence together letting the emotion of the moment wash over them. 

Finally, Link peacefully conceded, “I appreciate you, Rhett. And you coming outside to check on me and sit with me, but... You can go inside now, if you want. Be with the rest of your family. I’m okay out here now. I promise.”

Rhett slid his hand over Link’s hand, and laced their fingers together, knowing from both experience and intuition that they would fit together perfectly. 

“I’m right where I belong, too. With you.” 


	43. Miracle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: blindfolds, blowjobs, office sex

Link had a love-hate relationship with their darts game. On one hand, he sucked at it. He’d thought if he practiced, got the physics and angles of his throw right, there was no reason for him to be so bad at it. But over time he defied physics and reason: continuing to be absolute trash at throwing darts. 

On the other hand, Rhett was very good at the game. There was something sexy about the raw talent with which he threw his darts. It was like how he could make wastebasket shots with rejected items with ease. Or casually catch something someone unexpectedly tossed in his direction. Link knew that there was no way Rhett was thinking about physics and angles in these scenarios. There was something quietly savage and animalistic about his reflexes. And then there was the excitement. Rhett got all euphorically riled up when he threw his darts. His heart would race, his adorable cheeks would flush. Link sometimes wondered if the adrenaline ever got him hard. Sometimes thinking of him like that made Link hard, and they were lucky to make it home before Link was ripping Rhett’s clothes off. 

Today was following a mostly familiar pattern. Rhett was winning. Link had dug himself a hole so deep there was no shot that was gonna even take a chunk out of Rhett’s lead. But Link just wasn’t in a mood to be happy for Rhett, his win, or his excitement. He moped the rest of the workday, and Rhett was smart enough not to provoke him. 

The building was quiet with the crew having gone home. Rhett dimmed the lights in their office like he was getting ready to close down a grocery store and was politely trying to indicate that to any stragglers. “C’mon, babe. Time to go.”

Link silently sulked as he straightened his desk and grabbed his bag. 

Link became curious as Rhett took a detour toward the studio. 

“I thought the crew woulda taken down the map and all that,” Link wondered aloud. 

“I asked them to leave it.”

“Rhett…” Link sighed, exasperated.

“I know you can do this, Link. I believe in you!”

“That’s great, Rhett. But it takes more than believing in a person if they ain’t got a lick of talent! I’d have better luck hitting a target blindfolded.”

“All right, then.”

“What?”

Rhett grabbed Link’s blindfold and tossed it to him. “Blindfold yourself. You hit Finland with this dart, and I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Man, that’s impossible. Besides, I’m your husband. You’re obligated to make things worth my while every one in a—“

“You are seriously contrary today! Give it a shot? Don’t overthink it.”

Link rolled his eyes before blindfolding them. He suspended all thought as he cocked his arm and let the dart fly in a vaguely Finnish direction. 

He didn’t have to wonder how he’d done as Rhett whooped in disbelief and excitement. Link pulled the blindfold down and looked at the map. Miraculously, the dart was buried in the center of the famously non-existent country. Link’s jaw dropped. 

“How in the world…?”

Rhett moved in front of Link and raised his fingers to slowly lift his blindfold back up over his eyes. 

Link felt Rhett walking him backward until his butt knocked up against the GMM desk. Large hands positioned themselves at Link’s hips. Link’s heart sped up and nearly leapt outta his chest when hot breath pressed against the front of his jeans. 

“Rhett! Not at work, man.”

“No one’s here but us, bo.” Rhett unzipped Link’s fly. “I wanna show you how impressed I am by you making that impossible throw. Is that okay?”

Link swallowed and took a breath before nodding. “Yeah…. Yes.” 

The cool touch of Rhett’s hand made Link shiver as Rhett freed his cock. The chill was forgotten as warm, wet heat surrounded his shaft. 

“Oh god…” Link whimpered. He never forgot how good Rhett was, yet it managed to surprise him every time. 

Link arched his back; his breathing hitched with a sharp inhale. He blindly reached down to grasp at Rhett’s hair. He buried his fingers until his fingernails grazed Rhett’s scalp. Link groaned with pleasure through clenched teeth as he tried to resist bucking his hips toward Rhett’s mouth. “Oh, Rhett…” he sighed blissfully as Rhett’s head bobbed over Link’s dick. A hand began to massage his balls , occasionally accompanied by a tongue when Rhett would stop to pull his head off of Link’s cock for a moment. It was killing Link that he couldn’t watch Rhett work. “Bet you look so good doing that…”

Link felt Rhett work even harder at the encouragement.

“Rh…. Rhett… Ffff—“ Link gripped his hands into fists in Rhett’s hair, causing his tender headed husband to whimper around his cock. “Nnnngh, I— I’m close!” 

With no further warning, Link thrust up into Rhett’s mouth, gagging him briefly as he screamed filthy, grateful expletives. 

When Link’s pulsing, twitching cock stilled, he heard a wet sound as Rhett pulled off. He lifted the blindfold to watch Rhett wipe away the come that had spilled over his shiny lips. 

“Let’s get outta here,” Link said quickly. He watched confusion, with a dash of frustration and rejection, pass over Rhett’s face. “Oh don’t pout, Rhett. I haven’t forgotten about you, but we gotta get home first. I might’ve  _ let you _ blow me here at the desk, but there’s no way I’m allowing you to bend me over it and fuck me the way that I’m needing you to right now.”

Rhett’s eyes went wide with excitement as Link leaned up to kiss him, tasting himself on Rhett’s mouth. Link pressed his palm against the warm and prominent bulge in Rhett’s pants. “Let’s get home to our bed and see how many times your li’l dart can hit my bullseye.” He threw Rhett a wink before exiting the set with a little more swing in his hips than he’d entered it. 


	44. “You’ve always felt like home.” (Smutty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: established relationship, a little bit of dirty talk, a lotta bit of sexy times

It had been a while since Rhett had taken a trip back to North Carolina without Link. Their week apart had passed in slow, dull agony. Rhett met Link’s sparkling eyes in the baggage claim area of the airport, and Rhett had to blink back tears from his own shining eyes when they embraced.

They sat together, fingers interlocked across the center console of the car as Link drove them back to their house. 

“So,” Link began once they got through the door. “How was home?”

Rhett didn’t know how Link could be so casually conversational. He himself felt fit to combust. He ignored Link’s question in favor of pinning him against the wall and kissing him roughly. 

“Careful you don’t bust my lip,” Link said with a chuckle, though his suddenly labored breathing gave away the urgency of his own need. 

“I’m not ready for jokes.. or stories about home just yet,” Rhett made it clear. “I just want to be close to you.” 

Link’s body became pliable in Rhett’s hands as Rhett rocked himself against him in the hallway. Link gradually walked them stumbling backward toward the bedroom. Link spun them around, and abruptly shoved Rhett down onto the bed. 

Rhett made a startled sound as his back hit the mattress, but the sound of his groaning turned sweet as he watched Link seductively strip himself out of his clothes at the foot of the bed. Link yanked Rhett’s pants off quickly, and peeled his shorts off slowly before opening Rhett’s button-up shirt to expose his broad chest. 

“Did people ask where your handsome husband was?” Link asked with a cocky smirk on his face. Link was pleased, no doubt, with how readily Rhett’s body responded to his aggressive returning of Rhett’s advances. Link slicked Rhett’s hardened cock with lube, running his fingers over his shaft with agonizing leisure. 

“I just, uh.. told folks that someone had to take care of our business back here.”

Link growled low in his throat, his voice a playful rasp. “Hm. I’m ‘bout to handle your business right now.”

“Yesssss,” Rhett hissed as Link climbed up to straddle his stiffened cock and sink down easily. “Oh, honey,” Rhett’s eyes rolled back. Link felt stretched and ready for him. Rhett could almost come from just thinking about Link preparing for him leading up to this moment. “You, uh… knew what you wanted when you came to get me, huh?”

“Knew that I wanted you to bounce me on that thick lap of yours as I ride your big dick? Yeah, I did have that part planned out.” 

Rhett harshly gripped Link’s hips and ground his groin up, rocking Link’s ass against him. “What’d you do? Plug yourself? Fuck yourself on one of your toys?”

“You like thinkin’ about me like that, don’t ya?”

“You still feel so tight,” Rhett whined as his breaths nearly broke and hitched and the pressure built in his groin threatened to spill over with pleasure before Rhett was ready to stop. 

“Maybe you just got a big dick, Rhett.”

Rhett lifted both their bodies off the bed and flipped them over so Link was flat on his back. Rhett grabbed Link’s legs, sliding his hands down to fully wrap around each of his ankles. He slowly lifted Link’s smooth legs up over his lithe body to pin his knees back by his ears. 

Link’s eyes were wide, pupils blown out with lust and the raw desire to get fucked. Rhett didn’t make him wait. 

“Yes, Rhett,” Link husked when Rhett pressed himself deep into Link’s eager and stretched body. 

Rhett was overwhelmed with a feeling of return: to where he belonged, mindless and animalistically welcomed. Link let him in, and would keep him there for as long as they both desired. And when Rhett would inevitably have to withdraw, there would be no lingering guilt over his departure or any need to question whether he’d be back. There were no questions or insecurities. Just love.

Rhett’s whole body felt electrified with each sinking thrust, and every instance where he’d buried himself to the hilt and knew that he’d reached the physical limit of closeness with this person he’d been shamelessly trying to merge with since the day they’d met. 

His body tingled and hummed as he pressed delicious and filthy sounds and words from Link’s gorgeous lips. 

At his height, Rhett’s desperate and uncaged energy was... a lot, but his size and enthusiasm had never been ‘too much’ for Link. 

Link was the only one Rhett had ever felt comfortable enough to feel the full range of himself with. 

Link’s fingers threaded tightly through Rhett’s curls as his body tightened under and around Rhett. His plump lips parted with a wordless cry as he finished onto his own stomach. 

Link’s smile, and the single tear at the corner of one sparkling crystal blue eye said more than any number of  _ ‘I love you’s  _ or  _ ‘I missed you’ _ s’ ever could. 

Rhett had been fluent in the language of Link’s body for some time now.

Once their blood and breaths had slowed to an easy rhythm, Link asked again, “So… How was home?”

Rhett pulled Link in closer to his chest and inhaled deeply. “I’m confused, honey. I just got home.”

Rhett could feel Link smiling into his warm, sweaty skin, and he didn’t have to see his eyes to know he’d be adoringly rolling them back. “You know what I mean.”

“My family back in North Carolina is doing fine. But I’m not going to concede the point.”

“You’ve got a point to all this stubbornness?”

Rhett kissed the top of Link’s sweaty, messy head. “That you’ve always felt like home to me.” 


	45. “You’ve always felt like home.” (Angsty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ Filling in for an _Angsty Version_ this week.
> 
> **Chapter Notes**: high school rhink, homophobia, sweet ending.

As Link sat in his momma’s dining room with his best friend, in the middle of their last winter break as high schoolers - it occurred to Link that he’d never noticed how many Christmas songs were so dang sad. “Blue Christmas”, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. Link had to fight against the urge to remind Rhett that the music that was playing in the Neal household was his momma’s choosing, not his own. And that Momma Sue wasn’t trying to be insensitive with the themes of the songs. The woman just loved Elvis, and Christmas. 

Link took a sip of his too-hot hot chocolate just to keep his mouth from needlessly over-explaining the ambiance, and making this difficult moment for his best friend more about himself. 

It wasn’t his job to fix everything under the sun, Link reminded himself. Sometimes what a person really needed was for you to just shut your mouth and listen, or sit there with you in difficult times. That was difficult for Link: he was a fixer. But for Rhett, he would try to restrain himself.

“Those cookies smell great, Momma Sue!” Rhett called out toward the kitchen. 

Link could tell there was a strain of effort behind Rhett’s cheeriness. He also knew that Rhett hadn’t told his momma the real reason that he’d come to spend a portion of their Christmas break over at their house. 

Rhett and Link stole a couple unfrosted, freshly baked sugar cookies and took the rest of their hot chocolate over to Link’s room. 

Rhett dropped his cheery-act pretty quickly once Link closed his bedroom door. Link’s stomach twisted into a knot, not confident in his ability to make Rhett feel better.

“So, uh.. What were y’all arguing about before you, um. Left?”

“You mean before he kicked me out?”

Link knew that Rhett’s anger and hurt were directed toward his parents, and not toward Link himself. But he winced nonetheless. 

“Same ole crap.” Rhett’s tone softened as he began to share the exchange with Link. “He still wants me to take the scholarship. You know, play ball and all that. ‘There’s still time to transfer, Rhett. You don’t gotta throw your future away.’”

Link couldn’t help smiling a little at the way that Rhett automatically impersonated his dad’s voice. Link wondered if Rhett really knew how effortlessly funny he was. Even during his times of struggle. 

Rhett sighed, and Link could have sworn that he could see the waves tension leave Rhett’s large frame for just a moment before they rushed back in, and seeped under his skin to make Rhett’s body appear taut - like balled up nerves. 

“Just… one thing led to another, and…” Rhett shrugged. 

“I— What does that even mean? Did y’all just really get into it with arguing?”

Link felt a degree of guilt begin to run through his veins. Link had been the one to suggest that they go to the same college so they could still work on creative projects together, and still hang out and all that. Link knew that college, in theory, was an opportunity to spread his wings and try to strike out on his own a little. But the idea of so much change all at once: moving out of his momma’s house, living in a new town… the idea of not being near Rhett for all of this made him nauseous. Especially with how his and Rhett’s friendship had begun to shift into… well, something else. Something that Link was strongly averse to abandoning before he got to experience the full metamorphosis. 

But he never meant to persuade Rhett into ‘throwing his life away’. He certainly didn’t want to be the reason that Rhett wasn’t on good terms with his parents. Especially this close to the holidays. 

“Well, yeah,” Rhett continued. “It’s like I said, one thing led to another—“

“You keep sayin’ th—”

“Link!”

They stopped interrupting one another for a beat. 

“I told him… that I’m in love with you. And… I’m not gonna transfer to another school, and live apart from you.”

If Link hadn’t felt responsible before, he did now. His eyes involuntarily filled with tears. He couldn’t even place the emotion that was inspiring the tears. He was… touched that Rhett had come out to his parents about their relationship. Sort of? Maybe? Link didn’t think now was the time to grill Rhett about what exactly he had said to his parents. And just hearing those words come out of Rhett’s mouth so matter-of-factly… Rhett was in love with him. Link didn’t think hearing it could feel as good as just intrinsically knowing it, but there was definitely something there. 

Link didn’t ride that high for very long before his chest felt like it was crumpling in on itself. 

“I guess that was the last straw. My dad said to get out of his sight.”

“That sounds… like he’s just frustrated with the basketball thing. It doesn’t seem like a ‘...and never come back’ type of thing.”

Rhett rolled his eyes. “That seems a little naive, Link.”

“I can’t help it,” the tears spilled past Link’s thick eyelashes. “My heart is breaking for you, Rhett. To not feel welcome in your own home this close to Christmas. It… it just sucks. And I— I can’t help but feel like I…”

Rhett leaned in to kiss Link’s pouty lips. 

“You’ve always felt like home, bo. So… in a way, this is the first time I’ve truly been home for the holidays.”


	46. Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: College Rhink, Blow Jobs, Into to Ass Play

It started with handjobs. 

Self-service ones to start. They started playing their cat-and-mouse game almost the moment they became college roommates. Maybe one of them had been trying to be discreet at some point, in the beginning; but if that was true, they were unbelievably sloppy about it. A little too loud while pretending the other was asleep as they touched themselves in their bunk. And they cut things a little too close when trying to sneak a jerk-off session while the other was at class, getting closer and closer to being ‘caught’ every time. 

Once they finally began openly touching themselves in front of each other, it didn’t take long for things to escalate to touching each other. Suddenly, they were turning down plans with other friends, and had an awful lot of ‘studying’ to do. There were full weekends where they’d hardly be seen leaving their dorm room at all, aside from sneaking out to shower or horde some food from the dining hall. 

They didn’t call each other their boyfriend in front of anyone else. But they referred to each other as such as often as possible behind closed doors. 

It was during one of their electively isolated weekends, late into the second semester when they discovered another layer to their play. 

Rhett had Link completely naked, laid out on his back. Link’s body was sensitive - responsive to each little touch, breath, and bite. Rhett could, and had, spent hours just playing with him. Making his body break out in goosebumps, making him shiver, shudder, sprawl and tremble for him. It had Rhett hard and leaking, but that was all part of the fun - making himself wait as long as possible before breaking down and letting Link get his hands or mouth on him, finally making him come. 

Rhett kissed Link’s forehead, hovered his lips over Link’s fluttered-shut eyelashes, and licked Link’s lips. He gave Link’s bottom lip a sharp nibble before continuing down his long neck. Link giggled when Rhett suckled at his goozle. 

Link said it was ridiculous and not decidedly  _ not  _ sexy. But Rhett disagreed as Link’s protests made the bulge in his neck bob and vibrate beneath Rhett’s lips. 

Rhett moved down Link’s body, gnawing at his prominent collarbones, licking at his sensitive nipples. Pinning his narrow, squirming hips to the mattress as he worked his way lower until he found himself nuzzling the coarse dark hairs below Link’s navel. He inhaled the musky scent of Link’s sex as he began his oral assault on his cock. 

Rhett licked a wet stripe up Link’s shaft, making him groan as he settled to suckling at the delicate head until the groans became high-pitched whines and whimpers. 

Rhett tasted salty precome leaking from Link’s tip and mingling with the saliva pooling in his mouth as it watered insatiably for more of Link’s dick. The spit and slick pooled over Rhett’s lips and dribbled down Link’s balls. 

Rhett touched his fingers to the thin skin of Link’s sack; he looked up to watch Link’s head tilt back in pleasure. Rhett played and massaged them, loving the way the wetness felt between their bodies. 

He followed the trail lower, ghosting his fingertip over Link’s taint and pressing it before pausing at Link’s puckered entrance. Rhett felt Link’s breath hitch and his body clench with surprise. 

“Too far?” Rhett asked. His voice thick and low. 

“Um. I just wasn’t expecting it...”

“Mm hmm. So. Stop?”

“Well, even less than I was expecting you to… suggest it, I wasn’t expecting to be into it. However,” Link bit his lip. “I want it.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Rhett. Just, keep going, man..”

“Okay. Hold up.” Rhett walked as quickly as he could with an awkwardly bouncing hard on between his legs, and grabbed lotion from his dresser. He slid back down between Link’s long, lean legs, and hummed appreciatively as Link spread them wider. 

“I never messed around like this before, so uh. Go slow, okay?”

“Tell me if it’s too much, or you change your mind or whatever?”

“I’m not gonna, but okay.” 

Link’s fists clenched at the sheets, and he exhaled and Rhett could feel his body relax a little. Only then did Rhett bring his slicked finger back up to Link’s hole. He rubbed the lotion over Link’s rim, loving the way it pulsed for him. He then pressed the tip of his finger to sink it past Link’s taut muscles. Rhett could feel the way that Link trusted him by the way his finger melted into him. 

Link’s hips opened for him, and he pulled his knees back to give Rhett more space. Link lowered his hands from their resting place above his head down to touch his cock as Rhett slowly, reverently explored this new terrain. 

He gradually buried his finger, knuckle by knuckle, probing gently until he rubbed against Link in a way that made his body stiffen, Link rocked his hips against Rhett’s hand like he was a sex toy that Link was using to get himself off. Rhett didn’t know if he’d ever seen Link look so sexy as he did now as he chased his own new pleasures. It didn’t take long before Link’s cock twitched and spurted. The sound that Link made was unlike any other in all the orgasm he’d coaxed from him that year. 

“Game changer, huh?” Rhett said dumbly. Maybe one day he’d have the confidence to tell Link exactly how beautiful and definitively erotic he was, and made Rhett feel, when they were together like this. But for now, this was the best he could do.

“Fuck yes,” Link sighed, equally articulate. “Think I can take… more?”

“Wouldn’t mind finding out,” Rhett grinned. 

“Maybe tonight. I’m hungry. Lemme suck you off and then we’ll grab some pizza to bring back to the room?”

Sounded like a perfect night, by Rhett’s estimation. 


	47. Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: established relationship, domestic rhink, Christmas fic

“We should at least make sure the lights work,” Link said, trying to keep the whine from his voice. He had painstakingly checked each bulb to be sure the full string would light up, but he was still nervous that in winding them around their tree something could’ve gone awry. He held his breath as he brought the prongs to the outlet. 

In his periphery Link saw Rhett smirk, like he was considering saying something witty or condescending. Instead, he kept his wry mouth shut and flipped the light switch, plunging them into darkness. 

Link felt around to plug the tree in, and when he did a thousand brightly multicolored lights burst alive. Link gasped and backed up to get a better view. He backed up until his shoulders bumped against Rhett’s chest. Link took in the entire room illuminated only by the twinkling lights, and felt near exploding with childlike wonder and a giant grin spread across his face. 

“Beautiful...” Link whispered, only grounded in reality by the feel of Rhett’s hands come to rest softly around his waist. 

“You sure are,” Rhett hunched down to murmur into the crook of Link's neck. “I’ve been waiting all night for this.” Rhett kissed the back of Link’s neck, giving him chills. 

“For the lights?” Link asked awkwardly as a shiver ran through his body and he let his eyes slide shut. He couldn’t believe after all these years, Rhett still made him feel nervous with excitement and… anticipation. 

Link’s breath hitched in his throat as Rhett kissed his way down to where his neck met his angular shoulders. 

Link couldn’t take it any longer. He turned to face Rhett, and their lips came together with an easy certainty that felt like home. They kissed slowly, and Rhett left his patient hands planted at Link’s hips. Link’s hands were antsy, and sneaked themselves beneath Rhett’s sweater, feeling the warm skin and soft hair that covered his broad chest. A tiny growl rumbled in Rhett’s throat, and Link could feel it vibrating through them both. 

Rhett suddenly pulled Link’s body flush against his own, and he lowered his hands to grab onto Link’s ass. Link subtly pressed his hips back to make sure his round cheeks filled Rhett’s large hands. He was hungry for more contact and Rhett was more than willing to give him more as he groaned louder, and let this one rattle out of his throat. 

Link felt Rhett’s cock hard against his belly, and let out a desperate whimper as Rhett’s hips jerked forward suggestively. The kiss turned frantic as they practically tore off their festively donned gay apparel in the urgency of their shared need to have Rhett buried inside of Link.

Link’s need was evident beyond his hardened cock. The front of his underwear was wet from his leaking tip - and he didn’t give a crap if Rhett knew it. In fact, he hoped Rhett did notice. He knew how it turned Rhett on, knowing how badly Link wanted to get fucked.

Rhett yanked Link's underwear down to his calves, and Link used his feet to shimmy them the rest of the way down and kick them off to the side. They stumble-walked their way over toward the sofa, and Rhett gently bent Link over the back of it. 

“This good for you?” Rhett grunted, becoming more primal by the second. 

“Fuck yeah,” Link gasped, barely remembering how to breathe as he Rhett began drizzling lube - warmed from his pocket - over his backside and began to massage his way toward Link’s center with his thick slicked fingers. 

They moaned in unison as Link relaxed and opened up for Rhett. He was desperate to let Rhett know how ready he was for him, how eager he was to take his cock. Then again, Rhett’s fingers were so long and skillful. He’d always known how to play Link’s body like one of his guitars. Link’s mind was torn between wanting Rhett to take his time, but also…

“Please, Rhett?”

“Just relax,” Rhett hummed against his ear, his beard tickling his neck. 

“I am! I just want—“

“Just relax,” Rhett repeated. “I know what you want.”

Link shook his head, acutely aware of his own dick hanging heavy and needy beneath him. The neat freak part of him didn’t even mind that he was inevitably about to blow his load all over the upholstery of the sofa.

“And what you want,” Rhett continued in a low, rough voice. “Is for me to fuck you over this sofa til you see stars. And that’s just what I’m gonna do.”

Link smiled, unable to repress his urge to sass. “I’m pretty sure those are Christmas lights I’m seein’ in front of me, but whatever ya—“

They both cried out in broken moans as Rhett slid his dick inside, making Link’s knees buckle as he affixed his twinkling blue eyes ahead on the lights to center himself and keep from losing himself in the pleasure as Rhett began to move inside him. Link planted his feet and pushed his hips backward to take Rhett deeper. 

Rhett dropped his upper body to brace his elbows against the back of the sofa on either side of Link’s back. He was fully draped over Link, his cock buried to the hilt inside him. Link could feel the muscles in Rhett’s body twitch and contract as he relentlessly fucked him. 

Link’s eyes went glassy and narrowed. The Christmas lights blurred into a sea of color as Link’s orgasm rocked through his body and he hollered Rhett’s name. He felt Rhett coming too, his fingers gripping onto Link’s hips once again, this time with strength enough to bruise; a guttural grunt spilled from Rhett’s slack mouth. 

They rinsed off and spent the rest of the night in the hot tub sipping eggnog martinis; letting the winter air refresh them while warm water soothed their muscles, so their muscles wouldn’t remind them of their age the next day.


	48. Present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: handcuffs, sex toys, blowjobs

Rhett and Link were down to their last two gifts to exchange. Rhett thought Link looked as nervous as Rhett felt. Rhett had never bought such a bold gift. He historically skewed more sentimental.

“Uh.. why don’t you open mine last?” Link suggested. 

That suited Rhett fine, better to get this over with. 

Link’s eyes opened wide as he unwrapped a sparkly blue sex toy. 

“You said you liked sparkling stuff…” Rhett babbled awkwardly. “So, uh…?”

“I’d meant effervescent beverages. But this works too!” Link laughed, and Rhett felt better. “Did you... try to match the color of this thing to my freakin’ eyes? Seriously?”

They both laughed. 

“Open mine!” Link said, he seemed more excited than nervous now. He shoved a stocking into Rhett’s hands. 

Rhett pulled out a pair of handcuffs. They weren’t sparkly or colorful. They were… sturdy. And the insides were lined with a soft cushioning material. 

“You wanna handcuff me?” Rhett asked. He knew good and well that Link was averse to being restrained in any context. 

So he was surprised when Link said, “I was thinkin you could try them on me. And then maybe try  _ this _ on me?” He held up his new toy. 

“Are you sure? I don’t want you having… a bad time.”

“A panic attack?”

“Yes, that.”

“I trust you.”

“I wouldn’t think you didn’t, if you didn’t want this.”

“I trust you enough to… give you this much control over my body.”

“You seem sure.”

“I am. Now get me to our bed, cuff me, and fill me from both ends.”

“Fuck…” Rhett muttered under his breath before he grabbed their gifts in one hand and used his other arm to fling Link’s body over his shoulder. 

Link was full of nervous giggles as Rhett tossed him into the center of their bed. He yanked his shirt off and leaned back, presenting his body for Rhett’s pleasure. Rhett slid Link toward the headboard and guided his arms up over his head. 

“You tell me if you get anxious or uncomfortable.”

Link nodded. 

Rhett gave him a look that let him know that a nervous jerk of his chin wasn’t going to do it. 

“I’ll tell you, Rhett. And I do want this.”

“That’s all I needed to hear, honey.” Rhett lightly rubbed and kissed the cuffs as he affixed them to Link’s delicate wrists. 

“You look so good like this,” Rhett told him. “I’m gonna eat you alive.”

“Promise?” Link grinned wickedly and wiggled his stretched out body. 

They both worked to wriggle Link out of his jeans, and Rhett saw that Link was already hard beneath the fabric of his briefs. Rhett slowly pulled them down to allow Link’s hard-on to spring free. 

Rhett stroked Link’s length, loving the soft warm feel of him in his hand. He drizzled lube over his skin to give the motions some fluidity. 

Rhett tapped the tip of the toy to Link’s mouth. “Open up.” Link’s mouth fell open without hesitation. “Hold this for me, honey.” Rhett pressed the length of the stimulator past Link’s lips, and left it there as he began to coax Link to relax and open for him below.

The muffled sounds that Link made while Rhett worked Link’s warm hole with his fingers and tongue had Rhett hard and leaking in his pants. 

When Link was ready, Rhett slowly withdrew the sparkly blue toy from Link’s pouty mouth, and touched it to his entrance. Link gasped and moaned for it. He took it slow and deep; Rhett slid it into its cleverly designed position. He pulsed the base with his palm, making Link whine desperately, and writhe from the wrists down. 

“Its shape will keep it in place. You feel it when you wiggle?”

Link’s dick twitched against his stomach. “God, yesss… I think I could come like this.”

“And you will. But you’re gonna do it with my cock in your mouth.” 

Rhett moved to stand next to Link’s face, and dramatically unzipped his pants. He pulled his cock out and guided it toward Link’s obediently opened mouth. Link moaned beautifully as Rhett pressed the shiny head past his lips and slowly slid it over his soft warm tongue. 

Link gargled and choked on Rhett’s thick dick filling his throat as the well-placed toy massaged his prostate with every subtle shift of his pelvis. Link drooled and whimpered around Rhett’s girth as the dual sensations of being plugged at both ends began to overwhelm him. 

“We still good?” Rhett asked softly before realizing Link didn’t have a free hand or mouth to communicate with. He felt that was very sloppy of himself to let it get this far without a plan for ongoing consent. But he quickly course corrected. “Blink twice if you’re good. Close your eyes if you need me to stop.”

Link blinked twice, eyes sparkling with tears welled up in his eyes. He whined in a tone that could only be interpreted as…. positive. 

“So good, honey. You gonna come for me?” 

Link blinked twice and he sucked and licked, bucked and writhed until his cock twitched and he spilled pearly seed all over his belly. 

Rhett pulled out of Link’s soft skilled mouth to finish himself off with his hand and join Link in painting his stomach. Link had, nor wanted, any option apart from lying back and enjoying the view. 

After a moment’s recovery, Rhett carefully removed the toy and wiped Link’s belly; he dried the dribble from Link’s chin. Link smiled lazily and let Rhett take care of him. His eyes slid peacefully closed. “I told you I trusted you…”

Rhett chuckled and took a big steadying breath. “You did so well, honey. Thanks for trusting me. You were beautiful. I actually can’t believe you haven’t asked me to free you yet.” Rhett tugged on the handcuffs.

“I never feel as free as I do with you,” Link told him. “Physical restraints ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.”


	49. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time.” (Smutty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Tags**: husbands, first times

Link had begged Rhett not to carry him over the threshold. 

“You’ll throw your back out, man! I’m gonna want you in peak condition.”

Rhett laughed, but agreed they could enter their home side by side as husbands. 

Husbands. Not best friends, not business partners… Well, yes, those things too. But also: husbands. 

And their home. Not their studio or their office, not their ‘creative house’. Their home.

They took their time stripping each other out of their wedding tuxes. Rhett couldn’t believe one quick ceremony could make everything feel so new. They’d loved each other and been committed to each other their whole lives. But now they’d declared it before their friends and families. The world knew with no uncertainty, the nature of their love and commitment. Sealed with promises, a kiss, and represented with rings. 

Link climbed onto the bed and beckoned Rhett to join him. Link’s legs opened for Rhett to fit between, like he was made to. 

Rhett pressed his body between Link’s knees and covered him with his body. Stretching upward to kiss his plump lips. Link was warm and soft, his chest heaving with anticipation. 

“Easy, honey,” Rhett soothed against Link’s mouth. “We got all night. We got the rest of our lives.”

“I’ve waited for this moment for a long time, Rhett. Please don’t make me wait too much longer.”

Rhett nodded. They’d held back on most physical elements of their relationship. It just felt too important; there was so much at stake. Link, especially, needed to make sure they were sure. They both understood there was no ‘going backward’. They either moved forward, or broke entirely. 

Rhett worked his way down Link’s body. Nibbling his strong sharp jaw, pressing his lips to his warm pulsing jugular. He felt Link’s blood racing. Rhett knew he’d have to go slow for Link to calm down and.. relax into it. 

Rhett’s lips trailed down Link’s long neck, and over his bobbing goozle. He nibbled lightly over Link’s prominent clavicles. He felt Link’s erection hard against his skin. 

Link gasped as Rhett reached his sensitive nipples. Rhett licked at them with a pointed tongue, tweaking and teasing the pebbled nubs. Link’s body twitched and arched beneath Rhett, impatient for release. 

Rhett steadied Link, gently pinning his hips to the bed as he shimmied down the bed to bring himself face-level with Link’s swollen weeping cock. Rhett wrapped his hand around Link’s length, Rhett’s large hand not diminishing Link’s size. He touched his tongue to Link’s wet shiny head, tasting his need. 

“Rhett…” Link whimpered. 

Rhett took Link past his lips, sliding him over his tongue. He hummed around Link’s shaft and Link’s groans gave him chills. Rhett’s fingers felt their way toward Link’s hole and pressed inside as Rhett sucked him. 

Rhett could barely stand how Link writhed and begged for more. He was as desperate as Link, to give him everything they’d both been wanting for so long. 

Rhett pulled off of Link’s cock and wiped the stands of spit from his chin. He grabbed some lube and softly encouraged Link to spread himself further. 

“Beautiful..” Rhett husked as he touched Link again with slick fingers. He felt his husband’s body soften and relax under his patient touch. Rhett almost came untouched at just the feel of Link’s tight heat swallowing his fingers, pulsing hotly around his digits. 

Link’s hand lightly stroked his cock as Rhett worked his fingers inside him. Rhett imagined Link was trying hard not to beg; and while that sounded like a good time, that wasn’t what Rhett wanted tonight. 

Tonight he simply wanted to feel as close to Link as the physical limits of their separate corporeal bodies would allow. To move, breathe, and feel as one. They’d always been on the same page; tonight, he wanted to feel like they were both the tree that page had been made from. And to nourish that tree from root to leaf. 

He ran a fistful of lube over his own cock, feeling the strength and weight of his hard, shiny cock in his hand. This might well be the most erotic moment of his life. He pressed himself into Link’s tight hole and silently dared himself to not look away or come as Link arched, whined, and unhinged his jaw in raw pleasure - just how Rhett always imagined he would when this moment finally arrived. 

They both had involuntary tears of relief and release as they melted into one another. The decades of yearning, desperation, and anticipation did nothing to diminish the new sensations they shared as Rhett rocked himself against Link’s hips. Kissing every bit of Link’s upper body that he could reach. 

Link’s unintelligible moans and babbles coalesced to form actual words enough for Link to tell Rhett, “I’m gonna come..”

Rhett straightened himself upright to watch the length of Link from where their bodies joined and up his long lean body, glowing with sweat - some his own, some Rhett had contributed. 

“Well, I’ve waited for this moment for a long time, Link. Please don’t make me wait too much longer. Lemme see you come, honey..”

Link reached one toned arm over his head to grasp at the headboard as his other hand gripped his shaft, lightly rubbing his thumb over the delicate head of his cock until it began to spurt, painting milky stripes over his belly.. droplets reaching the bottom of his heaving rib cage. 

The vision beneath Rhett was enough to send him over the edge with Link. 

They collapsed in a sweating and panting pile, all dreamy spent smiles and cuddles. 

“So worth the wait,” Link sighed. “God. And we get to do this whenever we want?”

Rhett couldn’t stop grinning. Before he could voice his agreement, his stomach growled. 

“We can eat,” Link conceded. “But after that… Let’s just say I’m not done with you!”

Rhett leaned down to kiss Link, humming against his soft, swollen lips, “I’ll never be done with you, honey.”


	50. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time.” (Angsty Version)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️ Filling in for an Angsty Version this week.

Rhett sat at the desk and swished the bourbon around the dissolving cubes in his glass. It was _the_ desk now, not _his_ desk. The room went in and out of focus as tears welled up, and receded in his eyes. It had been stripped of all its contents and flair, no photos or trinkets or anything that would have marked it as Rhett’s. Rhett. You know… Host of Good Mythical Morning? The boss around here? The taller half? Now it was a naked desk in an empty room. Like it had been the day that they moved into this studio and made it Their Office. He drained most of his drink and carried the half-empty glass out with him, leaving the office space the final 1% emptier than it had been while he occupied it one last time. 

A lump had been lodged in his throat for quite some time. He tried a little harder to compose himself as he approached the main studio. He took a steadying breath and wiped his eyes before he walked out toward the GMM desk to join Link where he sat silently on His Side.

“I think someone’s coming to move the desk Monday..” Rhett muttered conversationally.

“It still doesn’t feel real, does it?” Link asked.

Rhett was relieved that Link’s voice sounded as strained as his own felt.

Link continued with only a slight nod as an answer from Rhett. “It still feels like we’re gonna come back here, crew and all, and… you know, ‘Talk about that!’ I thought maybe once we’d wrapped the last episode, that I wouldn’t feel like that anymore. Or once the last episode had aired. Putting it out into the universe would feel like a closing bookend… But my brain refuses to catch up to reality. It’s over, man. Chapter closed.”

A rogue tear broke away to roll down Rhett’s cheek. Link raised his glass to his lips, but Rhett paused him. 

“Dink it?”

Link smiled softly and nodded. He clinked his glass against Rhett’s. “Sink it…” Link took a long drink, and the ice rattled around the bottom of the glass afterward. 

“I’m sure you’re at least a little relieved,” Rhett suggested. 

“Would you be mad if I was?”

“What?” Rhett sniffed back some of his raw emotion and took Link’s hand. 

“I know I’m always the one wanting to quit stuff. Ear Biscuits, the first time. Vlogs. And I know you weren’t—“

“I was never mad at you.”

“Frustrated then. Or some degree of ‘not happy’.”

Rhett smiled softly. “You came back around on both of those, after time.”

“But you were the one wanting to stop this. And now here we are. And there’s no one to convince you to keep going, like you’re always there to keep me going. But you know I’m not going to be that for you. You know that if it gets to the point that you’re tired of something, that I’m damn-well exhausted.”

“Link…” Rhett took another deep breath. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time. I know we both have. This has been our bread and butter for so long, and our livelihoods got so entwined with it, that it became impossible to disentangle from it without everything around it dying. But it feels like it’s time now. We got enough for all our kids’ colleges. And enough of a nest egg to launch us into our next creative venture… I don’t think we’re doing the wrong thing by letting it die now.”

“Or by not just, like giving it over to someone else to host? There were plenty of people that could give it a shot after us.”

“This was our thing. I like the idea of ending it as our thing. Those plenty capable folks are more than welcome to do their own thing. Even if it’s essentially a copycat production. But GMM… the channel was ‘Rhett and Link 2’... How you gonna have that without Rhett and Link?”

Link smiled, though his face was still shiny with tears. “I’m glad it’s not gonna be hosted by anybody else either.”

“I know we’re both proud of everything we accomplished here, and with GMM overall. But now, we’re gonna get to do all the creative stuff that we’ve been wanting to do. And… be who we’ve been wanting to be. The dynamic of the show wouldn’t stay the same if we became any more… open about who we are to one another. And I’m not about to be any less open about it.”

Rhett gathered their empty glasses, and tucked them carefully into his backpack before slinging the bag over his shoulder. 

Link was grinning through the tears now. “Man, that’s gonna be one hell of an Ear Biscuit. I know there’s people out there that think they know… but there’s thinking it, and then knowing it!” 

Rhett chuckled. He leaned down to give Link a comforting kiss. “It’s time, honey.” 

“It’s past time.”

Link took his hand and they both stood up to walk out of the studio one last time. They paused for a moment to look back together in reverent silence, hands clasped tightly together, and then turning the lights down on set forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all who supported me, Mick, and Appa through this challenge. Every like and comment here; every reblog over on Tumblr. I’ve seen & appreciated every one 🖤🖤


End file.
